A MUM lied about her daughter's bruises before she died from a "constellation of injuries" at her boyfriend's hands, a court heard.She had suffered a string of horrific injuries that suggested she was subjected to a "blunt force assault", jurors heard.The toddler's dad James Chappell had repeatedly raised concerns about five marks she had on her face, it is said.
As a result, jurors heard Chappell removed their daughter from nursery and told her former partner Daymond was no longer around. Prosecutor Ben Nolan KC said: "It was a lie that went to the heart of James Chappell's perfectly proper fears for Maya's safety at Mr Daymond's hands." The court heard on September 28 last year, Daymond made a 999 call saying Maya was "gasping for breath" and although her eyes were open, it was "like she wasn't there".A post mortem showed her death was not a "one-off" event but the culmination of a series of assaults, Mr Nolan said.
He added: "The pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination concluded Maya had been subjected to a blunt force assault likely comprising severe shaking perhaps combined with blunt force impacts to the head and forceful blows to the abdomen."Maya also had extensive head, neck and torso bruising.of the pathologist, had been deliberately inflicted and resulted in severe brain damage from which she could not recover.