Chelsea Cuthbertson murder trial – partner Del Watts 'has no alibi' for death of baby, jury told

A JURY has been urged to acquit a Hythe mum accused of murdering her six-week-old son – with her defence team suggesting her partner may have been responsible.

The claim was made by barrister Joanne Martin QC as she began her closing speech to Winchester Crown Court yesterday (Monday).

She is making the case for Chelsea Cuthbertson (28), from Knightswood Road, Hythe, who denies murdering tiny Malakai Watts in February 2019.

Mrs Martin admitted to the jury that Cuthbertson "had no alibi", but continued: "Just as we [the defence] cannot exclude Chelsea Cuthbertson as a possibility for having done this, they [the prosecution] cannot exclude [her partner] Del Watts.

"You cannot exclude him on the evidence," she went on, adding Mr Watts was a "flawed man" who "has no alibi".

As reported in the A&T, the prosecution claims Malakai suffered "traumatic brain injuries" caused by Cuthbertson shaking him.

The court has heard Mr Watts left for work at around 6am on 2nd February 2019, and more than three hours later Cuthbertson phoned for an ambulance claiming Malakai was unresponsive in his cot.

She has told the jury she went outside her home and smoked a joint, returning to find him "blue". Malakai was rushed to Southampton General Hospital and treated in its Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in what was effectively an induced coma.

However, medics struggled to control seizures he was having, and a CT scan indicated bleeds on his brain and damage to his brain stem. Medics decided by 6th February he should be given palliative care and his life support switched off, after which he died.

Subsequent investigations found Malakai’s cause of death to be "non-accidental" and pathological findings assessed "very traumatic head injuries", the prosecution has said.

In her speech to jurors, Mrs Martin stressed the prosecution had to prove their case so jurors were satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Cuthbertson had committed the offence.

"[If that has not been done] it means this: that the prosecution will not have been able to make you sure that it's Chelsea Cuthbertson who caused those serious and fatal injuries

"That’s what the prosecution have to do to make you sure that someone is guilty."

"In cases like this, involving the death of a baby, there are two possible people that could have done it, and ultimately there can be no convictions. No one can be held to account.

"The prosecution case is that you can be sure Chelsea Cuthbertson shook Malakai, and you can be equally sure Del Watts did not.

"We say they are wrong. Chelsea Cuthbertson says she did not shake Malakai."

The trial continues.