UK court finds couple guilty of murdering Kenyan boy found in river with 56 injuries

A British Court has ruled that the death of Kenyan boy whose body was found on a river in the United Kingdom in 2020 was a result of murder by his mother and stepfather.

The five-year-old Logan Mwangi, born to Benjamin Mwangi and Angharad Williamson, is said to have sustained fifty-six external cuts and bruises as well as internal injuries when it was retrieved from the Ogmore River in Bridgend on July 31 last year.

The court found the boy’s mother Williamson, her current husband John Cole and a 14-year-old boy who lived with them guilty of the boy’s death.

“When his body was examined, it was bruised, grazed, and scratched from head to toe. He suffered damage to his brain, liver, and stomach. His death would have been slow and painful,” reported international publication.

Cole was reported to harbour a deep loathing for Logan owing to his African descent.

“Cole hated Logan’s similarity in looks to his biological father, who is of Kenyan heritage. Racism may have played a part in his attitude towards Logan,” the prosecution told the court in Wessex, England.

The judge said only one sentence can be passed in each of the defendants’ cases – life imprisonment.

She told the killers her role is to set the minimum term, which will be announced at the sentencing hearing at a later date.

Logan’s father, Benjamin, who was in court for the ruling recounted the difficult relationship he had with his ex-wife and his in-laws, which compelled him to part ways with his little boy, but always tried to maintain contact with him when he could.

According to Benjamin, the entry of Cole into Williamson’s life took a drastic turn for the worst cause he was cut off from seeing the boy.

Cole had several run-ins with the law, with a criminal record for burglary, assault, resisting arrest, possession of marijuana, and preventing the course of justice, and was generally a controlling and violent person who asked the boy’s mother to refrain from communicating with Mwangi.

Logan was then subject to suffering under the care of his mother and stepfather, who once in 2019 decided to lock him up in a dark bedroom, denying him food and forcing him to eat only cereals and water for supper.

The UK’s Social Services department was made aware on several occasions by the boy’s school that he was being tortured after he showed up bearing injuries, but was slow to take action, claiming that it did not see a significant risk to his life.

The 14-year-old boy who lived with them also projected his own share of abuse on the little boy, once throwing him down a flight of stairs, and breaking his arm.

In their last reported brutal attack, Cole is said to have punched the boy in his stomach while the teenage suspect kicked him with a martial art move.