A man battered his 11-year-old niece to death with a table leg, hours after a mental health crisis team said he was not deemed a risk.
Delroy Forrester, 51, left Jasmine Forrester with over 100 separate injuries after launching the attack on 9 February.
A court heard how the great-uncle hit the schoolgirl with a broken table leg with screws sticking out after she had asked her great-grandmother: Whats the matter with Uncle Delroy?
Police officers found him straddling Jasmine at the property on Kent Road, Wolverhampton after grandmother Victoria, 79, raised the alarm at around 1.07am.
She was rushed to hospital but despite the best efforts of medics she died from head and neck injuries which included lacerations, cutting wounds, abrasions and bruises.
Just hours before the attack, his daughter had phoned a mental health team at a hospital to ask for help but was told they couldnt as he was not deemed a risk.
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His daughter Tyler Forrester then told them: Youd better make sure he doesnt kill my nan tonight.
On Monday, Forrester went on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court charged with murder.
He admits killing Jasmine but denies murder on the basis he was legally insane at the time.
A jury of nine men and three women were told how Forrester attacked Jasmine because he thought she was Satan and told officers the devil had to die.
Jonathan Rees QC said: Jasmine was the subject of a frenzied and sustained attack by the defendant, in the course of which he used a broken table leg to inflict catastrophic head injuries.
One of the many tragedies associated with this case is that the killing took place at the home of Victoria Forrester.
Victoria Forrester is the mother of the defendant and was Jasmines great-grandmother.
Both the defendant and the deceased were staying with Ms Forrester on the night in question and, indeed, it was Victoria Forrester who raised the alarm with a neighbour.
The defendant does not dispute that he killed Jasmine in the way alleged.
However, he has pleaded not guilty to the allegation of murder on the basis that he was, in the legal sense, insane at the time he assaulted her and inflicted the fatal head injuries.
Indeed, there is a body of evidence indicating that he was mentally unwell in the days leading up to the incident.
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Ms [Tyler] Forrester was angry that her father had not been taken to hospital and so she contacted the Crisis Team at Penn Hospital at 9.13pm.
This team provides help for people with serious mental health problems. They asked her if her father was at risk and she said “no”.
They indicated that in those circumstances there was nothing they could do, in response to which she said in anger “Youd better make sure he doesnt kill my nan tonight”.
Victoria Forrester – who suffered a shoulder injury after also being attacked by Forrester later told police how her son flew into a rage and attacked them both in the house.
Mr Rees added: They went downstairs and saw the defendant at the front door. She thought he looked a bit funny and asked him whether there was anything wrong.
He raised his voice and said he was all right. She noticed that he was staring at Jasmine and he said that he didnt like her. In response, she asked what harm Jasmine had done to him.
Ms Forrester went on to describe how the defendant slapped both her and Jasmine on the head. Ms Forrester asked him whether he was sick and told Jasmine to hold on to her.
He pushed her on to the little girl, at which point Ms Forrester said, “Youd better kill me first and leave her”.
She had never seen the defendant act like this before and he had never previously been violent towards her.
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Ms Forrester told Jasmine not to say anything but when the defendant pushed Jasmine again, she asked her great-grandmother “Whats the matter with Uncle Delroy?”
Next, the defendant pushed his mother into Jasmine again. Ms Forrester decided to go for help, so she left via the back door and ran to the house of a neighbour.
She heard Jasmine scream. The neighbour was woken up by banging on his front door… he saw Ms Forrester in a dressing gown with nothing on her feet.
She told him that she thought her grand-daughter was dead. She appeared to be in pain and was holding her right arm.
She told him that her nephew was dragging and throwing her grand-daughter around the living room.
Men attempted to rob Starbucks where armed police were on a coffee break
Mr Rees continued: An officer asked whether the child was safe and the defendant responded by singing that the child wasnt safe and he was a bad man.
He added that “the devil had to die, I kill her blud” and “the devil is dead”.
A mental health assessment was carried out by a community psychiatric nurse on 11 February, while the defendant was still being held at the police station.
The defendant was presenting with psychosis, which is a symptom of serious mental disorder characterised by losing touch with reality.
He stated he felt devastated by what he had done to Jasmine.
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He spoke of her being pure and innocent, and said that his son, Myles, had tricked him into thinking that Jasmine was the devil whereas, in fact, Myles was the devil.
He said he knew that Myles was not his biological son; he was the devil and he had to kill him.
The trial continues.
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