Drug dealer, 32, jailed life for murdering Kemarni Watson Darby, three

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A violent drug dealer has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years for the ‘brutal’ murder of his partner’s son, three-year-old Kemarni Watson Darby.

Nathaniel Pope, 32, was found guilty of murder in April, following a five-month trial which heard that Kemarni had 34 separate areas of external injuries. He was today jailed for life at Birmingham Crown Court.  

Kemarni’s mother, 31-year-old Alicia Watson, was cleared of murder but found guilty of causing or allowing his death.

She was today jailed for 11 years for child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of her three-year-old son.

The toddler was kept in a room locked with an electrical wire in the cramped property in West Bromwich, Birmingham, as he suffered ‘a catalogue of horrendous injuries’ – likened to those of a car crash victim – in the weeks before he was killed. 

Jurors heard that Watson and Pope, who blamed each other from the witness box, continued to live together for several months after Kemarni died from abdominal injuries in June 2018 when his ribs were ‘crushed’ at their two-bedroom flat in West Bromwich. 

Jailing Pope for life, Mrs Justice Tipples said she was sure that he was under the influence of cannabis when he killed the three-year-old.

The judge told Pope: ‘The final assault involved multiple blows to his chest, limbs and abdomen from fists, kicking or with an object.

‘This was a severe and sustained assault which will have caused extreme distress and pain and that would have been obvious to you.

‘Abusing Kemarni was and became an accepted course of conduct in the flat. Kemarni was not your son and he did not mean anything to you. You saw him as a nuisance who got in the way of your relationship.’

Yesterday, Kemarni’s father revealed how he was ‘deceived’ by the ‘lying couple’ and paid tribute to his son. 

In a statement read to a sentencing hearing by a barrister at the same court on Monday, Darren Darby said: ‘My son Kemarni was an active, fun, boisterous, cheeky young boy. He was always smiling and laughing.

‘His life has been cruelly cut short. He had the potential to be so much.

‘I will not get to be involved in the key moments of his life.

‘Kemarni was loved by so many people, both friends and family. Everyone has been impacted by his death.’

Mr Darby, who is currently studying at university and made his statement two weeks after the trial ended, went on: ‘We had to wait over three years before we could lay Kemarni to rest because of the criminal inquiry.

‘When I first heard the news that Kemarni had died I cannot put into words how I felt.

‘As time went on I would be told about the injuries Kemarni had. It didn’t come all at once, it was piece by piece, revelation by revelation.

‘Both Alicia and Nathaniel told lies so you can’t be sure what’s truth and what’s fiction. All I feel is anger towards them – I feel deceived by them.

‘It’s about coping now – trying to get through each day. When you are in this situation it doesn’t seem real.

‘It’s a true life sentence for me and my family. There is no coming back from this – Kemarni is not coming back.’

A four-month trial followed where the jury was told Watson and Pope, who blamed each other from the witness box, were ‘partners in crime’ and continued to live together for several months after Kemarni’s death.

Jurors found the youngster died from abdominal injuries on the afternoon of June 5, 2018, after his ribcage was ‘crushed’ at the couple’s two-bedroom flat in West Bromwich, inflicted by Pope.

But also among the fatal injuries to Kemarni’s body were four rib fractures believed by pathologists to have been caused up to four weeks before he was killed at his home in West Bromwich.

Pope, who was jailed for four months in 2011 for a brutal attack on a young mother on a London bus, claimed in court that he had not seen or heard the fatal attack on Kemarni.

Jurors were told Pope was convicted of common assault and was jailed for the bus attack, but were not given further details of the attack following legal argument. 

The former warehouse worker has previous convictions for burglary and possession of heroin with intent to supply, and was found with a ‘rock’ of crack cocaine hidden in his buttocks when he was arrested for murder in March 2021.

Watson, said to have a ‘zero to 100’ temper, became angry while giving evidence, blaming Pope and claiming she only lived with him after her son’s death because she doubted the medical evidence.

Expert witnesses said the youngster was already in pain from serious injuries when, hours before he was beaten to death, he was taken by Watson to a walk-in health centre, where she told a nurse her son was being sick, had a high temperature and was not eating. 

Notes from the visit suggested that Kemarni, who was given medicine for a suspected stomach bug, had been vomiting for five days and was ‘not his usual self’. 

Opening the case at the start of the trial, prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC said: ‘Post-mortem examinations revealed that Kemarni had sustained horrendous injuries both that day and on earlier occasions.

‘The injuries were evident both externally and internally when a post-mortem examination was conducted.

‘Amongst those injuries were multiple fractures to his skeleton, some of which would have required force akin to a road traffic accident or stamping.

‘Both recent and non-recent injuries were found. There were multiple fractures to both the left and right side of his ribcage which could be dated historically into the hours and weeks preceding his death.

‘At least four separate events caused the fractures. They included corner fractures, fracture lines, partial fractures and a complete transverse fracture.’

Both defence barristers offered mitigation to the court after Mr Darby’s statement was read today by prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC.

Jonas Hankin QC, representing Pope, submitted that the former warehouse worker’s ‘truly dreadful’ actions, with many aggravating features, should not be viewed in the same category as the ‘purposeful, systematic and perpetual abuse’ seen in some other child murder cases in recent years.

He said: ‘The fatal violence, grievous and brutal that it must have been, was not obviously dangerous to life.’

Watson’s QC, Charles Sherrard, said: ‘No matter what the court does, she has lost everything.

‘Of course the jury’s verdicts demonstrated that she is culpable in that loss.

‘She will come out (of prison) to a family that is understandably split between some that remain supportive and those that will always understandably remain extremely critical.

‘The effect on her mental health is significant. She is perhaps in a very dark place and may never come out of it.’