Maya Chappell: Shotton Colliery murder accused will not give evidence

Maya Chappell died in hospital two days after collapsing at her Shotton Colliery home

A man accused of murdering his girlfriend's two-year-old daughter has declined to give evidence at his trial.

Michael Daymond, 27, denies fatally injuring Maya Chappell at their home in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, in September 2022.

Teesside Crown Court has heard Maya had extensive bruising and was killed by an "inflicted head injury".

Maya's mother Dana Carr, 24, denies not protecting her daughter and her lawyers indicated she would give evidence.

Mr Daymond was in sole care of Maya when he called 999 saying she had collapsed.

She was struggling to breathe and fell unconscious, dying two days later at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Pathologists counted dozens of bruises on her body and several internal injuries consistent with her being forcefully hit, the court heard, with her death caused by extreme shaking with a possible head blow.

Dana Carr denies allowing the death of a child and child cruelty

After eight days of presenting evidence, the prosecution has closed its case against the couple.

"The time has come when Michael Daymond could give evidence but he chooses not to," Mr Daymond's barrister Nicholas Lumley KC told the court.

Judge Mr Justice Robert Bright said jurors should "not draw any conclusions" by his refusal to take the stand.

In his police interviews read to the court, Mr Daymond denied harming Maya and said their relationship was "mint".

He said the case against him was "not looking good" but he "couldn't and wouldn't hurt" Maya, adding he "had never put [his] hand on that bairn" and he would "swear by that".

'Covered up'

He said he was looking after Maya, who was unwell, and was in another room playing on a games console when he heard a loud bang from her bedroom.

Mr Daymond said she was "floppy" and "gasping for breath" so he called 999, then attempted CPR on her until police and paramedics arrived at their home on Milton Grove.

He told officers he could offer no explanation for how Maya was injured but suggested Ms Carr had got up with Maya in the night before.

Pathologists have told the court Maya's fatal injuries would have rendered her unconscious almost immediately.

The court has heard Mr Daymond started a relationship with Ms Carr nine weeks before Maya's death, and friends and relatives subsequently noticed an increase in the number of bruises on her.

Jurors also heard Maya appeared increasingly "wary" of Mr Daymond, although he said he believed she did not like him getting so close to her mother.

Mr Daymond also denies child cruelty between 23 August and 29 September relating to multiple alleged assaults on Maya.

Ms Carr also denies child cruelty, based on the prosecution's assertion that she "covered up" for Mr Daymond and hid the abuse.

The trial continues.