Teen mum 'murdered baby with cotton wool' after secret birth at parents' home
A teenage mother murdered her newborn baby son by assaulting him and stuffing his throat with cotton wool, a jury has heard.
Paris Mayo, who is now 19 but was 15 at the time of the incident, has gone on trial accused of killing Stanley Mayo at her parents' home in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, on March 23 2019.
She was charged last year with murder after an inquiry by West Mercia Police.
Prosecuting barrister Jonas Hankin KC, opening the case at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday, told the jury: "Between 9.30pm and 10.30pm on 23 March 2019, 15-year old Paris Mayo gave birth to a baby boy.
"He was full or near full term and he was born alive. The birth took place in the living room of the family home, where she lived with her parents and her then 16-year-old brother George.
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"The defendant was alone and delivered the infant unaided. Her mother and father were in the house at the time but were upstairs where her father, who was unwell, was performing home dialysis, being overseen by her mother.
"Following delivery, the defendant assaulted the baby, fracturing the upper left and upper right sides of the skull and causing a severe brain injury.
"Approximately two hours later, realising the baby was still alive, the defendant stuffed pieces of cotton wool into his mouth, throat and neck.
"The first piece to go in was forced down so deeply into the oesophagus - the tube through which we carry food to our stomachs - it was only discovered on dissection of the neck at autopsy. This blocked his airway and he suffocated.
"She then put the baby's body in a bin bag and deposited the bin bag on the front doorstep outside the house, before going upstairs to bed.
"The following morning, she texted her brother, who by then was in the house, this message: 'When you go outside, can you put the black bag in the bin, it's just full of sick from last night, please'."
Jurors were told the baby's death came to light when Mayo's mother asked her son what was in the bag, which was described in court as "unusually heavy" and had left "streaks" of blood on the doorstep.
When Mayo's mother opened the bag, the Crown's KC said: "She suddenly went hysterical and was heard to say, 'There's a baby in the bag' and... 'Paris has given birth'."
Mayo's mother rang 999, telling the call operator her daughter had given birth, and "could be heard addressing her daughter saying, 'You could have told me, darling, you could have told me - poor baby', and repeating, 'Why didn't you tell me?"'
Paramedics arrived and found Mayo in the house sitting with her mother, holding the baby who was "wrapped in a sheet... and no sign of life".
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Mr Hankin said: "She (Mayo) said it (the baby) had stuff coming out of its mouth and she used cotton wool to try to clean it up.
"She said she had put some cotton wool inside the baby's mouth, to stop any more coming out, and later, in the ambulance, described this stuff as 'fluid'. She said she had put the baby in the bag because she didn't know what to do."
Mayo told another paramedic she "didn't know she was pregnant".
"'I think the baby didn't seem right'," Mayo is also reported by a medic to have said, added Mr Hankin. "The defendant told the paramedic she was hoping her mum would think the bag was rubbish and throw it out," he said.
Travelling to Hereford County Hospital with her mother and the lifeless baby in the back of an ambulance, Mayo was heard by paramedics to say: "Is it my fault? Did I do this?", and later: "It's my fault, it's my fault."
After arriving at hospital, Mr Hankin added, she was heard by medics to say: "It's not my fault the baby died, is it? His head hit the floor and I was waiting for a noise."
Continuing the opening, Mr Hankin said: "The prosecution says that the defendant killed the baby to prevent the discovery of her pregnancy and his birth.
"She didn't want the baby. Despite having parents and siblings - whom she acknowledges are loving and supportive and to whom she could have turned for help and advice - she murdered him.
"The defendant says, on the other hand, that she gave birth suddenly and unexpectantly. She believed the baby was dead. She never intended to kill the baby, or to seriously harm him and she made no attempt to conceal the birth.
"It will be your task, having heard the evidence during this lengthy trial, whether the prosecution has satisfied you so you are sure of the defendant's guilt."
Mayo, of Ruardean, Gloucestershire - who wept as the case was opened - denies wrongdoing and the trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.
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