Child's last words to mum before dad forced them to take part in her brutal murder - The Mirror

A dad groomed his child into helping him kill his wife - the child's mother - and the twisted killing saw him nearly get away with the planned attack on her after asking the child for a 'favour'

A child who was groomed by their father has shared the heartbreaking last words to their mum before she was murdered - and how their father has "ruined my life".

Robert Rhodes, 52, from Withleigh in Devon manipulated the young child who was under the age of 10 at the time, and meticulously planned the murder of his wife, and the childs mother, claiming he killed her after she attacked him and injured their child first.

The child was in on the ploy, and before the killing had been told by their father to tell Dawn to close her eyes and wait to be handed a picture. "I drew a picture for you, close your eyes and hold out your hands," the court heard the child was told to say.

The youngster then left the room and locked themselves in the bathroom, while Rhodes brutally came at his wife with a knife as she stood with her eyes closed - having no idea of the impending attack.

The child called 999 after the murder, at 7.34pm and Rhodes told officers that his wife had hit him twice in the back of the head. He also claimed that during a heated argument in the kitchen, Dawn had picked up a knife and aimed it towards the child, before he told them to go upstairs. The child then showed cops a deep cut on their arm which they claimed had been caused by their mother.

After the murder happened, Rhodes told his child he "needed a favour" - and forced the child to stab him in the back of the arm. As the pair sobbed, the father simply said: "We've done this now. There's no going back." But while the murder had happened, the manipulation hadn't stopped there.

But while on bail or his wife's murder in 2016 and 2017, he covertly stayed in touch with the child - ensuring that his crime remained covered up and continued to manipulate them. He gave the child instructions to stick to the plan, and grooming.

While behind bars, he used a phone hidden at his mother's house to leave messages for the youngster, reminding them about the agreement they had made. Witnesses claimed that during conversation, Rhodes would warn the child "Snitches get stitches".

Given the child was under 10 at the time, they bear no criminal responsibility for aiding the murder - but the guilt they lived with became unbearable. In 2022, they confessed to the police what their father had done, saying in an interview: "I didn't want to do any of it. I just felt guilty but I did what I was told."

During the second trial, which took place last Friday, the child recalled the "heartbreaking and distressing" experience of giving evidence against Rhodes last year, and hit out at their father for "gaslighting me, parading around as a survivor, while destroying me and my mother".

"I wish I could say his manipulating and abuse has not ruined my life, but I can't", they told the court. "I wish I could say Robert Rhodes did not take everything away from me, but I can't."

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