Defendant Kiena Dawes told her that “hitting you is like hitting a man,” the court heard

A man accused of manslaughter in the death of a young mother told his alleged victim that “hitting you is like hitting a man,” a court has heard.

Hairdresser Kiena Dawes, 23, left her nine-month-old daughter in the care of a friend with a suicide note and took her own life on a railway line after years of abuse from her partner Ryan Wellings, 30, Preston Crown Court heard.

A vulnerable Mrs Dawes, who had fragile mental health, left a note in which she claimed that “I had been murdered” and that Wellings had “killed me”.

Wellings, of Bispham, Lancashire, denies murder, assault and using control and coercion against Ms Dawes between January 2020 and her death on July 22, 2022.

Prosecutors told the jury of seven women and five men that Wellings’ alleged violence was used to “crush” Miss Dawes, leading to her suicide.

Wellings’ defense claims that Ms Dawes’ accusations against him are either false or exaggerated, and that any injuries she suffered before her death were the result of his attempts to stop her or were accidental.

On the second day of the trial, Miss Dawes’s best friend, Kacie Valentine, was asked about what her friend had told her about her relationship with Wellings.

Ms Valentine said she felt “weird” that Wellings had a tattoo of Kiena’s name on his neck just a week after the meeting.

She later discovered that Miss Dawes had fallen out with Wellings and moved in with a friend in Dorset, where she “returned to her normal self”.

But then she received a photo from Miss Dawes showing the ring on her finger and discovered that Wellings had proposed to her on the beach with a banner reading: “Will you marry me?” and she agreed to this proposal.

Ms Valentine said Miss Dawes told her on about five occasions that Wellings had been aggressive towards her and she had suffered injuries as a result.

These include a cut on his leg, bruises on his ribs and a black eye.

Mrs Valentine said Miss Dawes told her that when Wellings attacked her he would tell her: “Hitting you is like hitting a man.”

Mrs Valentine said that sometimes her friend would come and stay at her house because Wellings was “binging himself on alcohol and cocaine”.

The jury was shown messages from Miss Dawes to Wellings which read: ‘What went wrong was Coke. I can’t raise a child like this. I told you 100 times not to buy anymore.

Miss Dawes told Wellings that drugs had made him “aggressive” but her response to his message was: “Come on. Sorry xx.”

Miss Dawes replied: “No, I’m fed up with you hitting me.”

Earlier, John Jones KC, defending Wellings, told the jury that whatever the difficulties in their relationship, they were not the reason Miss Dawes decided to commit suicide and that there were “many factors” involved in the decision.

He said: “This relationship was loving, tender and otherwise good, but at times difficult and turbulent.

“My defense is not to express any negative comments or criticism towards anyone.

“Nothing I say is intended to adversely affect the memory of a young woman who was clearly almost universally loved and treated with affection.”

Jones continued: “Kiena Dawes was a young lady with big problems. The evidence will show that she had a long and troubled psychiatric history and had made several, some might say determined, suicide attempts in the past.

The process continues.