MUM’S MURDER BY HER EX
EMMA Baum had warned friends she feared her ex would kill her.
She had been repeatedly assaulted by David Davies before she split up with him because of the abuse she’d suffered.
She had confided in friends that he had threatened to kill her, telling them: “He will do it. It’s just a matter of time.”
Davies admitted the murder but contested some of the prosecution’s claims.
During a special “trial of issue”, Davies said he had no recollection of what happened during the killing.
Simon Mills, prosecuting, suggested Davies was pretending not to remember what happened during the attack. “I totally lost it,” said Davies. Pressed by Mr Mills, he added: “I don’t know the answer (to what happened) and I’m not going to make something up.”
He accepted the evidence from two pathologists that Miss Baum had suffered more than 20 serious injuries to her head and face.
Davies denied taking a weapon, initially thought to be a knife but now known to be a crowbar, to Penygroes with him that night.
He said he had left a crowbar on top of a rabbit hutch after dismantling a shed in the garden a few weeks previously.
After the attack he drove home to nearby Trefor.
He later sent two texts to Miss Baum’s phone, and denied it was an attempt to cover his tracks.
Mr Mills said: “Were you trying to get away with it?” “No, too scared to admit it,” said Davies. Davies got Miss Baum’s mother, Amanda Williams, to go to the house.
She performed CPR on her daughter, but she later told police she knew in her heart she was already dead.
In the hours after her death, Davies told their young son – who had been left alone upstairs in the house when he fled the scene – that it “didn’t matter” his mother had died and that he could come and live with him.
He was jailed for life in November 2016 after admitting murder. ● Reinforce training to recognise all potential signs of domestic abuse ● Streamline policy and guidance documents regarding domestic abuse, ensuring they are in line with the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice ● Revise the form used to refer victims of domestic abuse to the Protecting Vulnerable People Unit to include a question about previous domestic abuse ● Consider whether investigating officers could be actively involved in providing information for Domestic Violence Protection Notices ● Work with partner agencies to adopt a consistent approach to risk assessment process ● Make it a requirement for investigating officers to review logs and listen to the audio of telephone calls received in domestic abuse cases to identify any issues of concern