Stepfather tells murder trial he did not punch five-year-old boy and claims his mother shook him

A stepfather accused of murdering a five-year-old has denied punching him and instead accused the boy’s mother of shaking him.

Logan Mwangi was discovered in the River Ogmore in Pandy Park, Bridgend, on 31 July 2021, close to the flat where he lived with his family.

He had suffered catastrophic injuries similar to those found in victims of high-speed crashes or a fall from a height.

John Cole, 40, Angharad Williamson, 30, and a 14-year-old boy who cannot be named because of his age have all denied murder.

Peter Rouch QC, defending Williamson, asked Cole about comments made by a neighbour who overheard a row two days before the boy’s body was found.

Mr Rouch said: “You have a loud and aggressive voice? Did you speak to Logan in a loud and aggressive manner?”

Cole, who is 6ft 4in tall and weighs between 14 and 15 stone, replied: “I shouted at Logan, yes. We both used to shout at Logan. I wasn’t aggressive to Logan.”

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Mr Rouch asked: “When you had him in the hallway, did you say, ‘Why are you flinching, you’re always flinching?’

“Did you say, words to the effect, ‘You have got to stop him flinching when I’m around him otherwise social services will be concerned?'”

Cole replied: “No.”

Mr Rouch asked: “You were there in the hallway towering over him and you said, ‘The only thing he understands is pain’. You hit him twice in the stomach and he fell back on to his backside.”

Cole replied: “No, I did not hit Logan in the stomach.”

Mr Rouch suggested: “You said to the youth, ‘If he flinches again, take him down’.

“I am going to suggest Logan started to try and speak, he stammered, and the youth did what you told him to do and took him down.”

Cole replied: “He did not touch Logan, I did not touch Logan. Neither of us hit him.”

The defendant claimed he and Williamson rowed after she had shaken Logan and she had taken him back to his bedroom.

Mr Rouch said: “Did she say, ‘I’m sick of these rows and I’m going to leave you’ and you said, ‘If you do, I’ll kill him’, meaning Logan?”

Mr Rouch said Williamson’s case was that she went to bed on the night of Logan’s death and did not wake up until 5.30am.

“I didn’t punch Logan. I never said Angharad punched him, I have never said that,” Cole said.

“I didn’t kill Logan. Angharad was awake, Angharad woke me up.”

He told the jury he went to bed at around midnight and had left Logan alive with Williamson.

“She said she heard Logan take his last breath,” he said.

Williamson and the youth deny murder and perverting the course of justice.

Cole denies murder, but admits perverting the course of justice.

Cole and Williamson are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

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