A former probation worker accused of killing a five-year-old girl and beating her brother as 'punishment' half a century ago has denied ever hurting the pair. Janice Nix wept in the dock as she repeatedly told jurors she did not hit her 'stepdaughter' Andrea Bernard or eight-year-old brother Desmond.
The 67-year-old is on trial for manslaughter and child cruelty after Andrea died a month after being scalded in a bath in June 1978. A coroner originally recorded the death as 'accident', after Nix, then 19, told police Andrea got into the bath of her own accord.
But Desmond approached police in 2022 and said her account was wrong, and that Nix - his father's new girlfriend - had forced his little sister into the bath. Nix, who has a history of convictions for drugs offences, shoplifting and assault, said she had no idea the motivation for Desmond's new testimony.
She repeatedly denied allegations by prosecution counsel Jocelyn Ledward KC that Nix had handed out 'punishments' to the children, including beating them, forcing them to have cold baths, and making the older sibling eat cat food.
Cross-Examination at Isleworth Crown Court
Cross-examining the defendant at Isleworth Crown Court today, Ms Ledward asked: 'You beat those two children with a belt, didn't you?' Nix told jurors: 'No I did not.' The prosecutor added: 'You hit Desmond with a pot, didn't you?' Again, Nix replied: 'No I did not.'
She denied further allegations that she 'bit Desmond on the finger' and burnt him with a cigarette. Ms Ledward asked: 'Did you make Desmond and Andrea sit in a cold bath until they were so cold they were shivering?' Nix replied: 'No I didn't.'
Denial of Punishments
The prosecutor added: 'Did you inflict those punishments for minor infringements?' Nix replied: 'No I did not.' The defendant said their home in Thornton Heath, south London, was 'too busy' for anyone to 'inflict small injuries that were painful and degrading' on the children. Nix said: 'The kids were in their pants and vest. Any bruise would show up.'
She denied prosecution claims she 'terrorised' the children, and made them 'scared' in order to control them. Ms Ledward asked: 'As far as you are concerned, you don't know any reason why Desmond would make these malicious allegations against you?' Nix replied: 'No.'
Discipline and the Fatal Day
She told jurors she occasionally shouted at the children but did not properly discipline them because: 'It was not my place to, they were not my kids.' She said her partner, Desmond Bernard senior, would simply 'talk' to the children if needed.
Recalling the fatal scalding, Nix told jurors she was in the garden chatting with a neighbour when she heard a 'piercing scream' and rushed inside to find Andrea in the bath. She denied making a deal with eight-year-old Desmond to cover for her and back her version of events that Andrea took herself off to have her bath.
She said she was anxious when being interviewed by police in 2022, when asked by Ms Ledward about apparent inconsistencies between her statement then and what she told police in 1978. And she said she was unsure why she was at home on the day Andrea was fatally scalded, a Tuesday, having previously said she worked full-time as a clerk in London's banking district at the time.
Nix, of Clapham in south London, denies both charges. The trial continues.
