A vulnerable young mum pleaded with a 999 operator ‘I have got a baby and I don’t want to die’ just two weeks before killing herself following years of domestic abuse, a court has heard.
Kiena Dawes, 23, left her nine-month-old daughter at a friend’s house before driving to a railway line in Lancashire where she ended her life in July 2022.
She typed a note on her phone saying she had been ‘murdered slowly’ through abuse at the hands of her partner Ryan Wellings, 30, who is now on trial accused of her manslaughter.
Jurors at Preston Crown Court heard a harrowing 999 call made by Kiena on July 4 – 18 days before her death – reporting a car crash she had been involved in.
She can be heard telling the operator: ‘I’ve got a really bad mental health condition that has been getting a lot worse each day.
‘I always write notes all the time in case I just do it one day, but I have got a baby and I don’t want to die.
‘I want to be with my baby. I can’t get my head to work. I just want to sleep all the time.’
Kiena told the call handler she had been mentally unwell for a long time and said she took medication for her condition.
Asked about suicide, she said: ‘I don’t want to die. My head’s just gone. I need some help. I’m trying really hard not to feel like this.’
Jurors heard she was diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), which placed her at higher risk of taking her own life than the general population.
Dr Nicholas Kennedy told the court that Kiena reported to health professionals in February 2021 that she had a long-standing fear of abandonment.
He added that would have made it more difficult to walk away from a ‘toxic’ relationship.
By the time she died on July 22 the following year, her ‘baseline’ EUPD was aggravated by several factors, Dr Kennedy said.
The court heard they were ongoing domestic abuse, including an incident in which she suffered injuries on July 11, another on July 17 in which she claimed Wellings flouted his bail conditions to contact her, the anniversary of her father’s death, and being told to delete a Facebook post about domestic abuse dated July 18.
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, earlier told jurors his case is summed up in Kiena’s own words written in the note she left behind.
It read: ‘The end. I fought hard, I fought long. I went through pain no one could imagine.
‘I was murdered. Ryan Wellings killed me. He ruined every bit of strength I had left. I didn’t deserve it.
‘I hope my life saves another by police services acting faster. Don’t let bullies live free.’
Addressing her daughter, she then wrote: ‘I’m sorry I let you go … I’m so sorry I had to go.
‘The world turned their back on me. I was strong. I had dreams. I had a future at one point. That was taken away from me.’
Kiena added in the note she hoped her daughter was ‘kept away from the monster who is called her dad’.
Mr Greaney told jurors that almost from the beginning of their relationship, Wellings had repeatedly subjected her to controlling and coercive behaviour, abuse and violence.
Wellings exploited her EUPD, he added, and while the condition played a part in her decision to take her own life, so too did his abuse, including a final assault which left her in hospital 11 days before she took her own life.
The defendant denies manslaughter, assault and controlling and coercive behaviour.
He claims Kiena’s accusations against him are either untrue or exaggerated and any injuries she suffered before her death were a result of his attempts to restrain her or accidental.
The trial continues.
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