Couple who beat 'painfully thin' two-year-old grandson to death jailed for life
Medical evidence presented at the trial indicated Ethan's fatal head injury was inflicted by deliberate force or shaking, happening at the time, or moments before, his collapse
A couple who inflicted "distress, pain and misery" on their two year old grandson before ruthlessly killing him have been sentenced to decades behind bars.
Ethan Ives-Griffiths sustained a devastating brain injury before he collapsed while staying at his grandparents' home on Aug. 14, 2021. Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, denied murder, but a jury took just one day to deliberate before finding the pair guilty following a trial, which lasted over five weeks in July.
Sentencing them at Mold crown court, Justice Martin Griffiths told Michael Ives he must serve a minimum of 23 years. Kerry Ives will be behind bars for a minimum of 17 years, which will be served concurrently with a sentence of six years for the charge of child cruelty.
Ethan's mother Shannon Ives, 28, of Rhes-y-Cae, near Holywell, was found guilty of causing or allowing his death and child cruelty. She was jailed for 12 years.
The court heard Ethan had been staying at his grandparents' house in Garden City, Flintshire, North Wales, with his mother. She had fled domestic violence from her home in Mold in June, the jury was told.
Ethan died in hospital two days after collapsing. He was so "desperately dehydrated" that medical experts said he would have died within 10 days even if he had not suffered a brain injury.
The youngster's extended family has now called for "Ethan's Law," giving social services more powers if they are denied access to a child. Their petition has now reached 35,000 signatures.
The trial heard the boy was only 10 kilos. (22 lbs.) and severely underweight when he died, with 40 visible bruises or marks on his body. Jurors were visibly upset during the trial.
They were shown CCTV from the family home of Michael Ives carrying his grandson by the top of his arm and appearing to punch him after putting him into a car seat.
The court heard Ethan had been placed on the child protection register, requiring him to be seen every 10 days, but when Shannon Ives last saw her social worker, on Aug. 5, she spoke to him on the doorstep and told him Ethan was having a nap.
Nobody answered the door when a social worker went to visit in the days before Ethan's death and a scheduled appointment with a health visitor on Aug. 13 was cancelled. Michael Ives and Kerry Ives had accused their daughter of hitting her son, with Michael Ives telling the jury she was "quick-tempered" and would slap Ethan a couple of times a day.
Shannon Ives, however, painted a grim picture of her parents in court, describing them as "horrible" and alleging that they abused her throughout her childhood. She revealed that she first ran away from home at 16 due to the daily physical abuse she suffered from her father since she was four years old, which also extended to her seven siblings.
She recounted how her father kept reptiles as pets and once dropped a box of live locusts on her. She described herself as being "petrified" of him, and shared that he would often insult her, calling her a "slag."
"We would get punched, kicked, we would get a belt used on us," she said.
Tears streamed down Shannon's face as she testified about how her father would yell at her son and hit him. He would force Ethan to stand with his legs spread wide and his hands on his head for up to two hours, sometimes in the middle of the night, if he disturbed his grandfather or misbehaved.
"There they were, being violent to a little boy who had done nothing at all," she said.
Chilling CCTV footage from Aug. 4 showed Michael Ives handling his grandson roughly by the top of his arm, a scene that prosecutor Caroline Rees KC described as "as though Ethan was just a bag of rubbish to be slung out."
The video, captured in the backyard of the family's four-bedroom house, also showed Ethan appearing unsteady on a trampoline, or lying down, while other children bounced around him.
After viewing the video in court, Michael Ives confessed to feeling "ashamed" and acknowledged his cruel and neglectful behavior towards the toddler, but refuted any other forms of mistreatment.
Michael and Kerry Ives were in the living room with Ethan when he collapsed, while his mother was on a phone call upstairs. Both insisted to the jury that "nothing" had occurred to the toddler before he passed out as they watched TV.
Kerry Ives revealed she immediately summoned Shannon Ives downstairs, yet it took her 18 minutes to dial emergency services, according to court records.
Medical evidence presented at the trial suggested something "horrific" transpired just prior to the collapse. It indicated Ethan's fatal head injury was inflicted by deliberate force or shaking, happening at the time, or moments before, his collapse.
Post-mortem examination of the young boy revealed abdominal injuries likely inflicted by blows in the days leading up to his collapse. Other injuries included bruises consistent with grip marks on his leg and face.
A safeguarding review is currently in progress to determine how Ethan ended up dead, merely five weeks after being identified as at-risk of significant harm and added to the child protection register. In the 41-day span between July 6, 2021, when the decision was made to place Ethan on the register, and Aug. 16, when he died, he was seen in person only once.
A representative for Flintshire Council confirmed their cooperation with the independent child practice review being conducted by the North Wales Safeguarding Board.
Ethan's aunt, Rebecca Shone, is urging people to sign a petition to enact Ethan's law.
"After four very long and distressing years, Ethan will finally have justice. Although this will not bring our Ethan back, it does provide some comfort and it allows us to try and learn to live on, to be able to finally try to get back to some sort of normality," she said.
"Life will never be the same without Ethan but we will keep his spirit alive though every one of us who loved him and have fought for his justice."