Toddler Lola James was subjected to “several months of physical child abuse”, the court heard.
Image source, Family photoA man who murdered a two-year-old girl after subjecting her to a “brutal” assault has been handed a life sentence and ordered to serve at least 28 years.
Kyle Bevan, 31, of Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, inflicted “catastrophic” brain injuries on Lola James in the early hours of 17 July 2020.
Lola’s mother Sinead James, 30, was sentenced to six years for causing or allowing her daughter’s death.
Sentencing took place at Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday.
Image source, Dyfed Powys Police
Sentencing the pair, Mr Justice Martin Griffiths said Lola died in a “sustained, deliberate and very violent attack”.
He added: “I am sure that Kyle Bevan did this as an exercise of power. An assertion of superiority over the only person he could feel superior to – a helpless child.
“He has no remorse at all even now. At the time, he did not even simulate sadness about Lola’s injuries and critical condition when everyone around him was distraught.”
Addressing the court, the judge said that Sinead James “prioritised the relationship with Kyle Bevan over concern for her children”.
Lola sustained the injuries that would lead to her death on the night between 16 and 17 July 2020, while she was in Bevan’s care.
Kyle Bevan, who described himself as Lola James’s “stepfather”, claimed that Lola’s injuries had been caused by a fall down the stairs, after the family’s dog pushed her.
Image source, family photo
She had 101 surface injuries on her body as well as “catastrophic” brain trauma.
She died in hospital in Cardiff on 21 July 2020.
The judge said that, on the night of Lola’s injuries, Kyle Bevan “started to hurt Lola at midnight and carried on until she was unconscious at 6.30am”.
Judge Mr Justice Martin Griffiths detailed how, in the months before Lola’s death, she sustained a number of injuries in Bevan’s care.
He called Lola’s death “the culmination of several months of physical child abuse”.