A couple charged with the murder of their two-year-old grandson punched their children when they were growing up, their son has told a court.
Kerry Ives, 46, and Michael Ives, 47, are accused of killing toddler Ethan Ives-Griffiths, who collapsed at their home in Garden City, Deeside, Flintshire, on August 14 2021 and died in hospital two days later.
A trial at Mold Crown Court has heard Ethan, who was living at the home with his mother, Shannon Ives, suffered “catastrophic head injuries” and was severely underweight when he died.
Giving evidence on Thursday, the Ives’ son, Josh Ives, said physical discipline had been used by his parents when he and Shannon were growing up.
He told the court they would punch his legs and arms.
Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, asked: “How often would you be punched by your parents?”
Mr Ives replied: “Not that often, once a week.”
He said on rare occasions they used a belt to hit him.
He also said his parents would squeeze his wrist or slap him on the back of the head.
He added: “For a kid it would hurt but I wouldn’t say it was excessive.”
Mr Ives said the use of physical force stopped when he was between 10 and 12.
He said he moved out of the family home in May 2021, when he was about 23, following an argument about his girlfriend and dog living there.
He told the court following Ethan’s death he had kept away from his family, adding: “I’m not speaking to any of them.”
Josh Ives’ partner Jessica Weaver told the court Shannon had spoken to her about how her father would discipline Ethan.
“She said that Mike would make Ethan stand with his legs apart, his feet shoulder-width apart with his hands on his head,” she told the court.
She said the punishment happened at about 5am.
Ms Weaver added: “He had stated that Ethan had kept him up all night so he was going to do the same to Ethan.”
Neighbour Nicola Jeremy said about four weeks before Ethan’s death she began to hear a young child crying in the Ives’ home.
She said: “It was quite often. I wouldn’t say during the night but definitely during the day, whenever I was at home I could hear him crying.”
Two weeks before his death, she said she heard people in the back garden of the house and heard the little boy crying again.
She said: “I heard a woman’s voice quite angrily shout at the child. I can’t remember the exact words but it was something like ‘for f***’s sake, shut up’ or ‘shut the f*** up’.”
Hannah Jones told the court for a short period from 2016 she lived with Shannon Ives, who said the home she shared with her parents was “quite a nasty and abusive household”.
Ms Jones said: “She had bruises at one point and when I asked about them she just said ‘that’s what dad’s like’.”
She said when she went with Shannon to collect her things so she could move out of her parents’ home, there was “screaming and shouting” and her father told her if she left she couldn’t come back because she was a “stupid cow”.
She described Shannon as “not very motherly”.
Earlier in the day, the court heard from Aaron Moss, partner of Kerry and Michael Ives’ daughter, Rachel.
Mr Moss said Ethan and his mother had stayed with them in 2021 before moving to her parents’ house.
He told the jury he would hear Ethan “whinging, like babies do” from the next room.
Asked how Shannon Ives would react to her son, he said: “She used to tell him to shut up and go back to bed.”
He also described hearing a “thud” from the room on one occasion which he said sounded like she had “forcefully put Ethan back in his cot”.
On the evening of August 14, he said he went to the Ives’ home after he was told Ethan was being taken to hospital and saw the toddler lying on the floor “not moving, not breathing, eyes closed”.
Asked if he could remember anything about what Shannon was doing, he said: “I can remember her asking for a filter for a cigarette.
“She was alright, she was normal.”
Michael and Kerry Ives, of Kingsley Road, Garden City, deny murder, an alternative count of causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty to a person under 16.
Shannon Ives, of Nant Garmon, Mold, denies causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty to a person under 16.
The trial was adjourned until Friday.
