"I could hear Janice shouting 'get in the bath' and I could hear Andrea saying 'the bath is too hot mummy'... The court heard how screams could be heard for a while, and then they stopped. Bernard said he could then hear Janice calling Andrea to 'wake up, wake up'. Asked by prosecutor Kerry Broome how Nix sounded, he replied: 'She sounded scared.'"
"Bernard alleged Nix beat him with a belt, burned him with a cigarette, bit him, and made him eat cat food, all while he was seven to nine years old... Bernard said he could then enter the bathroom and saw Nix cradling Andrea, who was 'limp' and wrapped in a towel. He added: 'I could see skin falling off her.'"
"Andrea's death was treated as an accident until her older brother Desmond Bernard went to police in 2022, Isleworth Crown Court heard. Giving evidence, Bernard, now 56, said Nix regularly beat the children, even for not folding their clothes 'to her standards'."
Desmond Bernard, now 56, testified at Isleworth Crown Court that Janice Nix, 67, killed his five-year-old sister Andrea in a scalding bath in 1978 as punishment. Bernard described a pattern of severe abuse by Nix, including beatings, burning with cigarettes, and forced consumption of cat food. On the day of Andrea's death, Nix became furious when Andrea left the house without permission. Bernard heard Nix force Andrea into an extremely hot bath despite Andrea's protests. After hearing screams that stopped abruptly, Bernard found Andrea limp with severe burns. Nix asked Bernard to claim the death was accidental. Andrea's death was initially treated as an accident until Bernard reported it to police in 2022. Nix denies all charges.
Read at www.bbc.com
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