According to a murder trial, a stepfather killed a two-year-old girl who had screamed that she did not want to go home just days before her death.

Lola James, a young girl, begged her mother's best friend not to take her home to her stepfather, Kyle Bevan, who is 31 years old.

During the weeks leading up to the attack, Sinead James, a 30-year-old mother, was encouraged by her friend Casey Morgan to leave her "angry and aggressive" partner, as testified in court.

At Swansea Crown Court, Miss Morgan testified that James frequently entrusted Lola to her care while Bevan consumed drugs and displayed aggressive behavior at their residence.

Miss Morgan said: "Sinead's house was dirty and horrible. Lola didn't want to go home. She was screaming she didn't want to go home."

According to the court testimony, Miss Morgan made several efforts to convince James to separate from Bevan prior to his arrival at her house, where he exhibited symptoms of agitation such as foaming at the mouth.

She said: "I told Sinead that she wasn't getting Lola back until she got rid of him."

"I said if Sinead didn't get rid of him, he would hurt her. Something bad is going to happen to Sinead."

As stated in court, on May 14, 2020, only two months before the assault, James had brought Lola to Miss Morgan's residence.

Miss Morgan recounted receiving a call from her friend with background noise indicating commotion, leading her to believe she needed to meet James immediately.

She said: 'She phoned me. She said you need to come and get Lola. She sounded scared. She was crying. You could hear a commotion going on.

"I knew I had to go. I knew I had to put my shoes on and I had to go."

"When I met her she told me he was smashing up the house and he had punched a light switch and it was off. She said he was going mad. He was losing the plot."

"I was angry at Sinead because she didn't stay at my house and settle Lola. She just went and carried on with him."

Additionally, during the trial, a prominent physician testified that the severe injuries sustained by the toddler could not have been inflicted by the family dog knocking her down the stairs.

During his testimony as an expert witness, Ian Simmons, a consultant pediatric ophthalmologist, described the presence of multiple blood spots behind Lola's eyes.

Despite reading stepfather Kyle Bevan's account of how Lola sustained her injuries after being pushed by their bulldog and examining photographs of the carpeted staircase, he refuted the explanation during his testimony.

Mr Simmons said: "It is highly unlikely they would have been caused by a fall down 10 carpeted stairs, as put forward by Mr Bevan."

"The most likely cause of her injuries is a form of abusive head trauma, possibly with some form of impact."

He acknowledged that a recent study had concluded that when retinal hemorrhages are found in the presence of head injuries, there is a 91% likelihood that abuse was the cause.

According to court testimony, extensive bleeding was discovered in all four quadrants of both of Lola's eyes.

The jury was informed that Lola had two substantial macular hemorrhages in her right eye, and that her eyes contained an overwhelming number of blood spots that were impossible to quantify.

James, who resides in Neyland, Wales, denies the charge of causing or permitting the death of a child, while Bevan, from Aberystwyth, denies the accusation of murder.

The trial, which was expected to span over four weeks, is ongoing.