Trial of teenage mother accused of murdering her newborn son hears 999 call
The 10-minute call was played to jurors in the trial of Paris Mayo at Worcester Crown Court.
![Paris Mayo, left, arrives at Worcester Crown Court (Jacob King/PA)](https://static.the-independent.com/2023/05/15/15/ef5ed1639eaddaa4af6599bda10a43f5Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjg0MjQ2NjMx-2.72181324.jpg)
The mother of a teenage girl accused of murdering her newborn son cried hysterically as she told her daughter āyou know you could have told meā in a 999 call played to a jury.
Paris Mayo, who was 15 at the time of Stanley Mayoās death, allegedly killed the baby before putting him in a bin bag at her parentsā home in Springfield Avenue, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, on March 23 2019.
The 19-year-old allegedly hid her pregnancy and the birth, which came at full-term alone and unaided, and claims she did not know she was expecting.
Prosecutors say Stanley suffered a broken skull, possibly caused by Mayoās foot on his head, and had five pieces of cotton wool stuffed in his mouth ā including two found deep in his throat ā by his mother.
Mayoās mother became āhystericalā, according to an eyewitness, when she discovered baby Stanleyās lifeless body in a blood-stained black bin bag on the front doorstep of the family home at about 8.30am on March 24 2019.
In a 10-minute 999 call, played to Worcester Crown Court on Monday, Mayoās mother could at times be heard sobbing uncontrollably down the phone line and retching while repeatedly directing questions to her daughter.
Ringing the emergency services at 8.33am, she told the operator and, later, a paramedic: āMy 16-year-old daughter just gave birth last night. I didnāt know.
āI donāt know what to do.ā
Asked if the baby was breathing, Mayoās mother said āyesā but corrected herself and said: āNo. No.ā
My daughter has given birth last night and she didn't tell me. And he wasn't breathing when she gave birth. She thought he had died so she hid it
Asked if the baby was dead and beyond help, she replied: āYes. Yes,ā before breaking down into tears.
āItās a boy,ā she added.
As the operator briefly waited for a paramedic to join the 999 call, Mayoās mother could be heard asking her daughter: āWhy didnāt you tell me? Why didnāt you tell me? Why didnāt you tell me?
āYou could have told me. You could have told me, Paris.ā
She then told the paramedic: āMy daughter has given birth last night and she didnāt tell me. And he wasnāt breathing when she gave birth.
āShe thought he had died so she hid it.ā
Asked what colour Stanley was, Mayoās mother replied: āNo. Heās just cold. Heās cold. Heās cold.ā
She added: āIāve wrapped him up.ā
She again wept uncontrollably as she described Stanley as stiff.
āShe kept saying, yesterday, she had really bad stomach cramps,ā added Mayoās mother.
Asked to confirm if her daughter knew she was pregnant, she replied: āNo.ā
Moments before paramedics arrived, she was heard asking Mayo: āWhy didnāt you tell me?
She didnāt want the baby. Despite having parents and siblings ā whom she acknowledges are loving and supportive and to whom she could have turned for help and advice ā she murdered him
āYou know you could have told me. You know it doesnāt matter. Why? Why? Why?
āWhy? I donāt understand. Why didnāt you come and get me?
āYou know I would have, darling. You know.ā
At the start of the trial on Thursday, Jonas Hankin KC said: āThe prosecution says that the defendant killed the baby to prevent the discovery of her pregnancy and his birth.
āShe didnāt want the baby.
āDespite having parents and siblings ā whom she acknowledges are loving and supportive and to whom she could have turned for help and advice ā she murdered him.ā
Mayo, of Ruardean, Gloucestershire, denies wrongdoing and the trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.