Keena Davis: The complicated question at the heart of the Ryan Wellings trial

“I was murdered.”

Keena Davis typed into her mobile phone before taking her own life in July 2022.

On the same note, the 23-year-old mum, from Fleetwood in Lancashire, described her partner Ryan Wellings as a “monster” and “scumbag” who “killed me”.

Wellings Cleared of his massacre. But on Monday he was found guilty of assault as well as control and coercion.

For these offences, the 30-year-old landscape gardener, from nearby Buspham, Sent to jail for six years on Thursday.

At the heart of the case was a complex legal question – can an abuser be held guilty of the death of a victim who took his own life?

Warning: This article contains disturbing images and content.

Ms. Davis’ own words from “Beyond the Grave.” Lead prosecutor Paul Greaney KC presented him in court.was the starting point for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when it considered charging Wellings with manslaughter.

In a detailed note on her phone, Ms Davies outlined two and a half years of physical and emotional abuse at her hands.

One recounted how he destroyed a small shrine he had built for his late father, while another detailed the time he threatened Acid marks on his face.

Wellings’ trial also described how, when she told him she wanted to end their relationship, he pulled the trigger on the drill and told her to use it to “pull a tooth” out of his mouth. will

In other evidence, the jury heard that police were called several times to the flat in Fleetwood she and Wellings shared and that in the months before her death, Ms Davies told officers that He had “skinned” her, strangled her, painted her black. Eye patched and tried to dip it in the bath.

On 4 January 2022, she called a confidential helpline run by domestic abuse charity Refuge.

Notes kept by the charity, which were read out in court, described how Wellings hit her, threw objects at her and threw her into a glass on the floor before pulling her by the hair.

Wellings was arrested in early July 2022 but denied intentionally harming Miss Davies and was released on bail.

Two weeks later, she went to her friend’s house, let herself in and put her nine-month-old daughter in the living room, safely strapped in a car seat.

While her friend was in the shower, oblivious to their presence, she left her mobile phone with her child and walked away.

Ms. Davis took her own life a short time later.

In court, Wellings’ defense drew attention to Ms. Dawes’ history of mental illness, which dates back to her childhood and included attempts to take her own life before she met him.

Traits of her diagnosed emotionally unstable personality disorder, including increased apathy, were also cited as a possible cause of her death.

In criminal proceedings, juries are instructed that they must be satisfied “beyond a reasonable doubt” that a person is guilty of a crime before they can sentence them.

Jurors could not be asked to explain why they reached a verdict, but the verdicts confirmed that in the Wellings case, the jury accepted that he had physically and psychologically abused Ms Davies. , but they did not find him criminally responsible for her death.

Speaking outside court after Wellings was sentenced Monday, Angela Davis said she hoped “no other young woman or child” would have to go through what happened to her daughter.

He added that his sentences “clearly” showed that “domestic abusers will be held accountable”.

Speaking after the trial, a CPS spokesman said the case was “tragic” and prosecutors respected the jury’s decision.

Chief Crown Prosecutor Kate Brown, who leads domestic abuse for the CPS, said the not guilty verdict in relation to the manslaughter charge would not prevent the service from considering similar charges in the future.

“There is nothing that we have seen that would prevent us from bringing other cases,” he said.

“We are actively looking at the cases that the police bring to us.”

Only one man, Nicholas Allen, has been jailed for manslaughter over the death of a partner who took her own life after prolonged domestic abuse.

In 2017, Allen admitted: Killing Justin Reese And he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Sentencing her, Judge Michael Chambers QC said Allen had made Ms Rees’ life “a living nightmare” and had “clearly” caused her to kill herself.

Charities supporting victims of domestic violence said the outcome of the case had not changed their view of the link between someone being abused and taking their own life.

Julia Dwyer, head of refugee services, said her charity remained “firm” in its position that there was “an undeniable link between domestic abuse and suicide”.

The charity estimates that three women who experience domestic violence kill themselves every week.

It said 24 per cent of its service users had thought about taking their own life at least once.

Harriet Wistrich, director of the Center for Women’s Justice, told BBC Radio 4 that her charity was aware of a number of similar cases being considered by the CPS.

He said he believed the jury in the case would have to “struggle with the fact that Keena was a pre-existing risk, that she had attempted suicide before”.

He said this meant it could be difficult for judges to “definitely” find domestic abuse a “causative factor”.

However, he said Ms Davies’ vulnerability and risk of self-harm could have made Wellings more culpable for “pushing her over the edge”.

“We want to see criminal courts bring in expert evidence, not just psychological evidence, but evidence that shows how coercive control works,” he said.

She said this could allow the court to understand “how women get completely trapped in relationships that have been created by an abuser and see no other way out.” .