A wicked mother who claimed the Bible told her to beat her toddler with a cane before she murdered him will serve at least 25 years behind bars.
In the weeks leading up to his violent death, three-year-old Dwelaniyah Robinson endured horrific abuse and severe burns inflicted by his mother, Christina Robinson. This heart-wrenching case culminated in Newcastle Crown Court, where Robinson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years for the murder of her son and four charges of cruelty to a person under 16.
Dwelaniyah Robinson suffered excruciating burns from being forced into scalding water. His mother, Christina Robinson, subjected him to a series of cruel acts, including lashing him with a cane for “messing with his food.” This brutal treatment continued until the tragic day emergency services were called to their home on November 5, 2022.
On that fateful day, Robinson claimed her son had stopped breathing while eating a cheese bap. Paramedics who arrived at Bracken Court, Ushaw Moor, County Durham, found the little boy’s legs heavily bandaged. These dressings concealed agonizing burn injuries to his legs, buttocks, and genitals, covering up to 20 percent of his body. Despite the severity of these injuries, they had not received proper medical treatment and should have required immediate surgical intervention.
In addition to the burns, Dwelaniyah had distinctive bruising on his arms and body, consistent with being beaten with a bamboo cane. Tragically, the little boy’s death was caused by a traumatic impact to his head, which resulted in devastating injuries to his eyes and brain. The court heard that he had suffered a similar injury two days earlier, which had begun to heal before the fatal blow.
Christina Robinson, a 30-year-old former hairdresser and personal trainer, was married but pregnant by a sperm donor at the time of her son’s death. She was also seeing a man she met on a dating site. Throughout the investigation and trial, Robinson showed no emotion, maintaining her innocence and denying the charges against her. In March, a jury found her guilty of murder and child cruelty.
At her sentencing hearing, Robinson continued to deny her guilt, addressing the court: “I pray for the day when justice will be served. I didn’t kill my child in any way, whichever way anyone wants to imagine it. I will forever stand by it.” Despite her claims, Mr. Justice Garnham sentenced her to life behind bars with a minimum term of 25 years. He remarked on the unimaginable torment Dwelaniyah must have endured, being beaten with a cane by his mother despite his terrible burns.
Robinson told the court during her trial that she wanted a large family, with children in “double figures.” She followed the beliefs of the “Black Hebrew Israelites,” describing it as more of a lifestyle than a religion. According to Robinson, the sabbath falls on a Saturday, a day where the religion prohibits work, cooking, cleaning, or pleasure, and should be focused on “God himself.”
On the day of Dwelaniyah’s death, Robinson claimed she had been “very happy but very tired,” and was listening to religious teachings on YouTube. She admitted to using a cane on her son that day for “messing around with his food” after watching a video scripture about chastisement. This act of discipline, as she perceived it, was part of the series of abuses that led to her son’s death.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC detailed the extent of Dwelaniyah’s suffering in court, revealing the little boy had 70 separate injuries, including burns, bruises, and abrasions. Wright explained that Dwelaniyah had been the victim of a series of assaults over time, sustaining multiple non-accidental injuries. “In other words, somebody had been deliberately hurting this little boy and had been doing so over a period of time,” Wright said. The prosecution firmly pointed to Christina Robinson as the perpetrator.
Wright further explained that there was clear evidence Dwelaniyah had been beaten with a weapon in multiple areas of his body, causing distinctive line bruising typical of being struck with a cylindrical object, such as a bamboo cane. Robinson believed she was “allowed to do so because the Bible told her to chastise her child.”
The court also heard about the severe and untreated burns on Dwelaniyah’s legs, which would have caused him excruciating pain both when inflicted and afterwards. These injuries required immediate medical attention and surgery, which Robinson failed to provide. Instead, she watched as her son struggled in pain, with the untreated burns bleeding through the makeshift bandages she had applied.
Tragically, Dwelaniyah’s fatal head injuries, likely caused by shaking or impact with a surface, ended his life. The court heard that these injuries may have been inflicted in the days leading up to his death. This case underscores the prolonged and brutal abuse the little boy endured at the hands of his mother.
Christina Robinson’s trial and subsequent sentencing bring some measure of justice for Dwelaniyah, though the pain and suffering he experienced remain a harrowing reminder of the horrors of child abuse.
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