Toddler Ayeeshia Jane Smith suffered cardiac arrest last May 2014 after being stomped to death by her own mother and father. Her parents, Kathryn Smith, 23, and Matthew Rigby, 22, both from Staffordshire were brought to court for the trial of Ayeeshia’s murder. They were accused of murder and cruelty to the child.
The court currently received a report that the 21-month-old toddler had only consumed tiny amounts of food the day she died. According to Daily Mail, the toddler only ate a pack of crisps, chocolate biscuit and yogurt the whole day. The court was informed that Ayeeshia was very thin and frail and that she was already taken to the hospital before.
Detective Sergeant James Brady, who had a word with Smith was told that Ayeeshia bit her lip in bath approximately three weeks before she died and had slipped in the bath. She was then brought to Queen’s Hospital then taken home. She also told him that the toddler was rushed to the hospital twice for suffering three "overheating fits" since the beginning of 2014. The mother told him that she went to get some juice in the kitchen and found the child with blue lips and fitting. The toddler had her last meal the night before at Rigby’s grandparents’ house located in Nottingham. He also noticed that Smith was very emotional. According to Brady the fits the child had suffered were similar to what she had suffered previously.
According to Independent UK, Autopsy reports conducted by Pathologist Dr. Alexander Kolar show that Ayeeshia’s brain had a bleeding months before she passed, linking this to the February incident. The little girl suffered from blunt force trauma and had sixteen injuries in total which include three broken ribs. The child died from cardiac arrest due to being stamped forcefully on the chest.
His statement states that “The colour of these bruises indicate that there had been at least 24 hours between injury and death. More than trivial forces have been used. It is blunt force trauma using reasonable severe force.
“I would expect these sorts of injuries to occur from severe trauma to the chest or torso similar to that of a victim of a road traffic collision or a fall from a height. She has been subjected to a very significant trauma to the rear of her body resulting in a fatal chest injury. It was non-accidental.”
The little girl was previously taken into social services about welfare issues and was returned to her mother half a year before she died. The couple still denies the allegations thrown to them.
