A woman has gone on trial accused of subjecting two children to years of abuse and causing the death of a five-year-old girl after a fatal bath scalding more than four decades ago. Janice Nix, 66, denies manslaughter and child cruelty charges relating to the death of Andrea Bernard in 1978.
Isleworth Crown Court heard that Andrea died in hospital around a month after suffering severe scalding injuries at a home in Thornton Heath on 6 June 1978.
At the time, her death was treated as an accident. However, the case was reopened decades later after her brother, Desmond Bernard, contacted police in 2022.
Prosecutors allege that Ms Nix, who was in her late teens at the time, had primary responsibility for caring for the children and carried out repeated acts of violence when their father was not present.
Opening the case, prosecutor Kerry Broome told jurors the children were subjected to “serious, violent, cruel, degrading and unacceptable forms of punishment”.
The court heard allegations that the children were beaten with a belt once or twice a week, with Ms Nix allegedly instructing them to fetch it before striking them on their arms and legs.
Jurors were also told of other alleged punishments, including forcing the children to take cold baths, eat cat food from a dirty bowl, and being burned with cigarettes.
It is claimed that while both children suffered abuse, Desmond Bernard “got the worst of it”, though Andrea was also alleged to have been regularly beaten.
The prosecution described the situation as a “cycle of violence” in the household, with punishments allegedly carried out when their father, who worked as a chauffeur, was away.
Ms Nix, of Clapham, denies all charges.