A father accused of abusing and murdering his six-year-old son 'treated him like a punchbag', a court heard.
Thomas Hughes, 29, allegedly subjected Arthur Labinjo-Hughes to a brutal 'campaign of cruelty' that met the 'medical definition of child torture'.
He and his partner Emma Tustin, 32, subjected the boy to 'systematic, cruel behaviour', including poisoning him with salt and forcing him to stand on a hallway step for 14 hours a day, it is said.
Arthur was allegedly ordered to sleep on the floor and 'deprived of basic living comforts' after moving into stepmother Tustin's home during the first pandemic lockdown.
The youngster was found with 125 areas of bruising on his body after dying from unsurvivable brain injuries in June 2020.
A day before he collapsed, Hughes sent a message to a man asking him to 'to dig Arthur's grave' and earlier sent Tustin a picture of a Taser with a message which read 'gonna thwack him'.
A father accused of abusing and murdering his six-year-old son 'treated him like a punchbag', a court heard. Thomas Hughes, 29, allegedly subjected Arthur Labinjo-Hughes to a brutal 'campaign of cruelty' that met the 'medical definition of child torture'
Tustin and Hughes both deny murder. Tustin has admitted one count of child cruelty but denies three others. Hughes denies four counts of child cruelty.
At Coventry Crown Court, Hughes was today accused of treating his son 'like a punchbag'.
In cross-examination, Hughes was accused of being unable to control his temper and attacking Arthur, which he denied.
Tustin's barrister Mary Prior, QC, put to him: 'You treated him like a punchbag, didn't you?'
Hughes replied: 'No.'
Arthur had been in the full-time care of Hughes after his mother Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow was accused of killing her new partner, Gary Cunningham, in February 2019.
Hughes and his partner Emma Tustin, 32, subjected the boy to 'systematic, cruel behaviour', including poisoning him with salt and forcing him to stand on a hallway step for 14 hours a day, it is said
Hughes and Tustin met on an online dating website and he moved into her home near Solihull, in the West Midlands, with Arthur when the country entered lockdown.
The pair are said to have subjected Arthur to 'violence and intimidation' in 'brutal controlling circumstances'.
Football mad Arthur collapsed with 'unsurvivable brain injuries' on Tuesday, June 16, and died the following day
Hughes was quizzed over messages sent to mother-of-four Tustin threatening to 'end' and 'go to town' on Arthur.
But he denied the texts indicated violence and denied wanting to buy a Taser to use on Arthur.
He sent a picture of a stun device to Tustin with the caption: 'Gonna thwack him', jurors heard.
Asked why he sent the picture of the Taser, he said he read about a police officer who Tasered the former Aston Villa footballer Dalian Atkinson
Hughes told jurors: 'He had used a Taser on the ex-footballer for longer than what should have been deployed.'
Asked if he intended to purchase the device by his barrister, Bernard Richmond, QC, Hughes replied: 'No.'
Giving evidence, Hughes said he 'didn't think anything' of a message asking a man 'to dig Arthur's grave', sent a day before Arthur collapsed.
Mr Richmond asked him: 'Were you expecting Arthur to be dead in the next 24 hours or so?'
