Girl, 5, stated ‘tub too scorching mummy’ earlier than her ‘pores and skin fell off in scalding water’
Janice Nix is accused of the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard, aged 5, allegedly by punishing her with a scalding hot bath in Thornton Heath, south London, in 1978
Janice Nix, 67, stands accused of the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard(Image: PA)
A five-year-old girl pleaded “this is too hot, mummy” before being forced into a bath of boiling water that resulted in her death, a court has been told.
Janice Nix, 67, stands accused of the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard by punishing her with a hot bath in Thornton Heath, south London, in 1978. The tragic death of the young girl was initially deemed an accident until her older brother, Desmond Bernard, approached the police in 2022, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
Testifying on Thursday, Mr Bernard, now 56, claimed Nix routinely physically punished the children, even for not folding their clothes “to her standards”.
The jury was informed that on June 6, 1978, Nix became “furious” after Andrea disregarded instructions to stay at home and assist with cleaning. Mr Bernard informed the court he heard shouting after the bath was filled.
He said: “I could hear Janice shouting ‘get in the bath’ and I could hear Andrea saying ‘the bath is too hot, mummy’. I could hear Janice shouting ‘get in the bath, get in the bath’ and then I heard screaming and splashing.”, reports the Mirror. “Then I heard the screaming stopped and I could hear Janice calling Andrea to ‘wake up, wake up’.”
Mr Bernard stated that earlier in the day when they were returning from school his sister had confided in him that she was in trouble and wished to go to their grandmother’s house.
He said: “I said no, I wasn’t sure how we would get there because we would have to take the bus and because I wasn’t in trouble I wasn’t concerned enough.”
Upon their return home, Nix yelled at Andrea in an “extremely loud” voice before assaulting her and filling the bath, the court was told.
When questioned by prosecutor Kerry Broome about how Nix sounded following the bath incident, he responded: “She sounded scared.”
Mr Bernard recounted that he then entered the bathroom to find Nix holding Andrea, who was “limp” and swaddled in a towel. He added: “I could see skin falling off her.”
When asked if Nix said anything, Mr Bernard answered: “She asked me to say it was an accident… and to say that we were in the garden when it happened and that she would never beat me again.”
When asked what he did, he stated: “I lied, I told everyone that story.” When asked why, Mr Bernard responded: “Because I didn’t feel protected, I just wanted it to stop.”
He informed the jury that he lived in “constant fear” of Nix’s assaults and didn’t confide in anyone due to fear of being “punished more”. Mr Bernard stated that the account he provided to the coroner at Andrea’s inquest was “just a story” fed to him by Nix.
Nix – who went by the name Janice Thomas at the time and was in her late teens – had been involved with the children’s father, also named Desmond Bernard, effectively making her their stepmother, the court heard.
Mr Bernard remembered that when he and Andrea first encountered Nix, they were “very rude” to her, telling her she “wasn’t our mother”. He mentioned that Andrea also struck her with a small tennis racket.
When questioned why, he responded: “I guess we were confused about the situation and here’s this person that we don’t even know in our house.”
Mr Bernard stated that the following day Nix assaulted both children by “slapping” them after their father had left the premises. He added: “It was hard, harder than I had ever felt before.”
When asked what Nix told them, he answered: “That she wasn’t going to stand for that, and there was nothing we could do, and if we were to tell our dad we would get it worse.”
Discussing his decision to share his sister’s death with others, Mr Bernard said: “I couldn’t carry on dealing with it, so that’s what I did.” He further added: “To place this burden where it should go.”
Nix, from Clapham, south London, refutes charges of manslaughter and cruelty to Mr Bernard between October 1975 and June 1978. The trial continues.
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