A couple is sentenced to life for the murder of their two -year -old grandson, which is a terrible misconduct after a trial after a trial.
Michael Ewes, 48, and his wife Kerry, 46, kept Toddler Ethan Ewes-Grifiths for physical and emotional cruelty in his home in Flintshire, North Wales.
The ethan was found dangerously dehydrated and severely found as low weight, which reached visible scars and injuries when he fell with a terrible head injury in August 2021.
The pair refused the murder, but the Mold Crown Court heard the child forcing the child intense neglect and evidence of violence before being convicted.
Michael and Kerry Ewes of Kingsley Road in Garden City said that “nothing” had fainted before the child watches television.
A jury convicted both the killing and cruelty of a child under 16 years of age.
While sentenced to life, Mr. Justice Griffiths told Michael Eques that he would serve at least 23 years imprisonment before applying for parole, while his wife was imprisoned for a minimum of 17 years.
The judge said, “Ethan Ewes-Griffith was one or two years old with an independent spirit. His mother and his grandparents killed him, but when he did, he was disobeying and even laughed,” the judge said.
“Even though he was only a child, he was a brave and flexible boy with a strong character.
“They already had qualities that could make greatness in an adult, but the people who killed him did not like the little boy standing for themselves. They decided to break it.”
Ethan’s mother, Shannon Ewes, 28, 28, near Holvel, who was living with her son at her parents’ house, was found guilty for her death and hair cruelty.
He has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.
The judge said that Shannon Ewes knew that his parents were violent because he was suffering in his hands while growing up.
“Shannon knew that Ethan was not safe with his parents. He gave evidence that he killed both Ethan,” he said.
“He did not tell social services, covering what is being done. He was entangled in it.
“She knew that Ethan was weakened, her body was hurt and her face had recently suffered injuries.
“She knew that she was painfully thin, malnourished and dehydrated.
“She knew that Michael was violent and systematically cruel and physically derogatory to Athan.
“She knew that Ethan could no longer walk or talk because he had gone and spoke first.
“She did not cause her death, but she was active in allowing it.”
In a victim personal statement, William Griffith, father of Ethan, said that he would never come with her son.
He said, “I am angry that he was taken away from me and kept with his grandparents, who then subjected him to a brutal behavior, denied him food or basic comfort, regularly meant and disciplined him without bad and without any reason,” he said.
He said, “He felt very sad and lonely and I feel sad that he was like his last few weeks on this earth.
“No child should be subjected to this behavior by anyone, let those who should love and take care of him.”
Mr. Griffith said that the court case had taken a huge toll on his family, but he hoped to get some rest in the judgment.
He said: “Nobody should be kept through it, it is the worst dream of any family that he loses a child and takes them to you, especially in such tragic circumstances.
“Ethan has been a big loss for our life and leaves a zero that can never be replaced for those who met and loved him.”
During the trial, the gamblers were visually disturbed at the points, during which CCTV was played from the family’s house, in which Michael Ivees showed his grandson to the top of his hand and appeared to punch it after putting him on the car seat.
The court heard that Ethan was placed on the Child Protection Register, for which he could be seen every 10 days, but when his mother saw his social worker for the last time, on August 5, he spoke to him at the door and told him that Ethan was taking a nap.
Nobody responded to this door when social activist Michael Cornish went to travel in the days before Ethan’s death and on August 13, a scheduled appointment with a health visitor was canceled.
Shannon Ewes ran away from domestic violence from his home in Mold in June that year, the jury was told.
Her parents accused her of killing her son, Michael Ewes told the jury that her daughter was “quick nature” and slapped Ethan once or twice a day.
But Shannon Ewes told the court that his parents were “terrible” and misused him as a child.
The court heard that Ethan was designed to stand as a punishment with his hands with his hands when he misbehaved.
When the ethan was examined by doctors after his death, he was found to have been found to be attacking in the days before his collapse.
Other injuries included injuries that suit the scar on his leg and face.
Experts said Ethan would have died, as he did not face head injury, and at the time of his death, his weight was only 10 kg, told to the court.
The jury heard the medical evidence that Ethan’s deadly head injury was deliberately due to force or shaking, or in the past, it fell on the evening of 14 August.
Ethan was taken to the Countse of Chester Hospital and later shifted to Elder Hey Children Hospital in Liverpool, where he died two days later.