Toddler's injuries like high-speed car crash, murder trial is told

A TODDLER was “punched in the guts” so forcefully that his injuries were akin to a high-speed crash or a fall from a five-storey balcony, a jury heard yesterday.

- DAVID POWELL

Two-year-old Ethan Ives-Griffiths endured prolonged cruelty before his death in 2021, Mold Crown Court heard yesterday.

His grandparents, Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, of Kingsley Road, Garden City, Deeside, deny murdering Ethan at their home in August 2021.

They and their daughter, Shannon Ives, 28, of Nant Garmon, Mold, all deny other charges of causing or inciting the death of a child, and cruelty to a child under 16.

The court heard that Ethan collapsed in the living room on August 14, 2021.

Kerry Ives rang 999 and paramedics took Ethan to the Countess of Chester Hospital.

He was transferred to Alder Hey children's hospital on Merseyside, where he died two days later.

A Home Office pathologist yesterday described the severity of the injuries.