Doncaster mum accused of murdering son sent texts saying she was going to "punch the kids" and made "w**k st**n” reference
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A Sheffield Crown Court trial has heard how Sarah O’Brien, aged 33, of Bosworth Road, Doncaster, and her partner Martin Currie, aged 36, of no fixed abode, have denied murdering Ms O’Brien’s two-year-old son Keigan O’Brien after he died from head injuries on January 9.
Miss O’Brien told the court when Keigan was born: “It was one of the happiest days of my life."
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Hide AdShe said: “He wanted to cuddle and kiss every morning. Sometimes he could be a cry-baby and mardy sometimes, and sometimes he could be happy and smiley and dancing and playing around.”
The court heard Miss O’Brien, who has history of self-harming, raised Keigan and his older siblings as a single-mum on benefits and life could be hard and she would become stressed occasionally and shouted sometimes and would “tap” her children.
Miss O’Brien said she developed a relationship with Mr Currie in 2019 and at first she had believed he was “the one” but she claimed he changed and became moody and insulted her children.
Kath Goddard QC, defending, discussed texts sent by Miss O’Brien in which she said she was going to “punch the kids” and referred to them as “ba**ards” but Miss O’Brien said she did not harm the children or mean anything she had said.
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Hide AdMiss O’Brien also used the expression “w**k st**n” when referring to Keigan in a text to Mr Currie but she said that was not how she thought of him and she had learned the expression from Mr Currie because he used it to refer to Keigan but she did not think he was serious.
She added Keigan was not annoying to her and he did not make her angry and she had no intention to harm the children.
Miss O’Brien said: “It was just the way I used to speak”, and added she felt “ashamed”.
Sarah O’Brien and Martin Currie have also denied causing cruelty to a child by ill-treatment or neglect, and both also deny individual counts of causing or allowing the death of a child.