Young mom left harrowing suicide observe accusing her ‘abusive’ ex of ‘killing her’ after ‘ruining each little bit of power she had left’ earlier than leaping in entrance of prepare – as he denies manslaughter

A young mother who tragically threw herself in front of a train after suffering a campaign of domestic abuse left a note saying her partner had ‘killed me’, a jury heard today.

‘Bright and popular’ Kiena Dawes, 23, left her nine-month-old daughter with a friend then drove to a nearby railway line, lying across the tracks as an express train approached at 110mph.

Following her death, a suicide note was found on her phone in which she wrote: ‘Ryan Wellings killed me.’

Her final words were today read to a jury as 30-year-old Wellings stood trial for the manslaughter of Ms Dawes, as well as controlling and coercive behaviour over a two-and-a-half year period and assaulting causing actual bodily harm.

Wellings treated Ms Dawes in ‘a thoroughly abusive way’ and subjected her to repeated physical assaults during the pair’s relationship, Paul Greaney, KC, told jurors.

A final assault on July 11, 2022 – just 11 days before her suicide on the West Coast Main Line near Garstang, Lancashire – was a ‘significant factor’ in her decision to take her own life, he said.

In the suicide note, Ms Dawes wrote: ‘Ryan Wellings killed me.

‘He ruined every bit of strength I had left. I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t ask for it.

‘I hope my life saves another by police services acting faster.’

Writing that she ‘went through pain no one could imagine’, Ms Dawes added: ‘No one will know what I went through.

‘I was murdered. Slowly.

‘They tortured me, till there was nothing left. I lost my fight but I didn’t give up my battle.’

Ms Dawes wrote that ‘worst of all’ was having to leave behind the daughter she shared with Wellings.

‘Please can the world protect her,’ she added.

‘Make sure she is safe. She is loved.

‘She is heard and she doesn’t ever experience any of the pain I have.

‘I’m so sorry I had to go. I tried my hardest to stay with you, to keep you safe from these monsters.

‘But I couldn’t, I couldn’t protect you because they are allowed to live, speak, lie.

‘Most importantly LIE. They lied. Repeatedly about me.

‘The world turned their back on me. I would never have left otherwise.

‘I was strong. I had dreams. I had a future at one point. That was taken away from me. I will always love my family.

‘I love them unconditionally. I always have, I always will. Please protect them.

‘I won’t rest in peace till I know my girl is safe.’

Ms Dawes wrote that she hoped her daughter is ‘kept away from the monster who is called her dad’.

‘She deserves more.’

Saying her daughter’s ‘beautiful smile when you wake up and see my face’ was ‘enough to save me’, she concluded: ‘But these people took me away, I am so sorry I hope your life turns out happy, don’t forget how much I love you.

‘I am going to miss you so much….

‘Good night and I am sorry.’

Ms Dawes, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, had been due to visit a friend on the morning of July 11, 2022, Mr Greaney said.

But when she arrived, her friend was in the shower, and instead Ms Dawes left her baby daughter still strapped in her car seat along with a mobile phone containing the note.

She then drove to the railway line near the village of Barnacre and lay across the tracks shortly after a service bound for Glasgow left nearby Preston at 12.46pm.

Tragically the train driver was unable to stop in time and Ms Dawes was fatally injured.

‘What had caused a bright and popular young mother to take such clear and deliberate steps to end her own life, even leaving behind her infant daughter with a friend to do so?’ Mr Greaney asked jurors.

After reading them the suicide note – which was also displayed on screens in court – the prosecutor said its ‘predominant thrust’ was that Wellings was ‘responsible for her death’.

He added: ‘Kiena’s own words, ‘Ryan Wellings killed me’ represent the prosecution’s case, namely that the death of Kiena Dawes was caused by the unlawful acts of Ryan Wellings and that he is therefore guilty of her manslaughter.’

But Mr Greaney said the prosecution case was ‘much broader’ than this and included details of the ‘prolonged’ abuse Wellings allegedly subjected her to.

He said Ms Dawes suffered from emotionally unstable personality disorder which can result in increased impulsivity, poor self-esteem and difficulty in relationships with others.

‘Ryan Wellings exploited the vulnerability that this mental health condition generated and he made it worse,’ Mr Greaney said.

‘While her personality disorder no doubt played a part in Kiena’s decision to take her own life, so too did Ryan Wellings’ abuse of Kiena and, certainly, a final assault that he carried out on July 11, 2022, just 11 days before her suicide, was a significant factor, the prosecution says in her decision to kill herself.’

The prosecutor said Wellings’ defence was understood to be that her ‘descriptions of his behaviour in messages and in discussions with friends and family were inaccurate’.

‘Her complaints were, he says, either untrue or exaggerated,’ he added.

Wellings instead maintains their relationship ‘was generally a loving one in which they treated each other with kindness’.

‘There were sometimes arguments, in which he accepts that his language was unacceptable – but where Kiena sustained injury, he maintains that was not the consequence of any assaults by him but instead the result of his efforts to restrain her or the consequence of accident or, he says, Kiena inflicted the injuries on herself,’ Mr Greaney said.

‘Ryan Wellings does not accept that his conduct caused Kiena’s death, maintaining that her underlying mental health condition was, or may have been the explanation for why Kiena took the decision to end her own life.

‘This trial will give you, members of the jury, the opportunity to assess whether that defence is or might be right.

‘We predict that the evidence will reveal that the defence of Ryan Wellings is false.’

The trial continues.