'They did not love their little girl like me'

Marie Therese Kouao, perpetrator of one of the worst cases of child abuse in British history, gave evidence without remorse yesterday at a public inquiry into the the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié.

She said she was a respectable lady, a good mother and "a pure innocent person" falsely accused of a non-existent crime.

But in a sustained series of outbursts, the main quality she showed was anger. Anger at the doctors at North Middlesex hospital who, she alleged, killed Victoria by injecting the wrong medicine. Anger at the authorities for faking the photographic evidence. Anger at Carl Manning, her co-accused, for making false admissions of their cruelty. And anger at the public inquiry for asking intrusive questions about her personal life.

Kouao, 45, and Manning, 28, are serving life sentences for murdering Victoria who died in London nearly two years ago with the marks of 128 injuries on her body.

It was understood to be the first time a convicted murderer has been released from prison to testify at an inquiry into a victim's death and given an opportunity to criticise public servants who might have prevented the tragedy.

The girl had been brought from the Ivory Coast by Kouao, her great aunt, on a promise of a good education and a better future. But she was subjected to sustained beatings and abuse, including days trussed in a plastic sack, lying in a bath in an unheated room without windows, with the door shut and lights off.

The inquiry at Elephant and Castle, south London, had heard previously that Victoria was left "lying in her own waste products", sometimes for more than 24 hours, and fed like a dog off a piece of plastic.

Yesterday's proceedings were not a retrial. Kouao was summonsed to give evidence to cast light on how social workers, NHS staff and police officers handled the case. The inquiry has already identified 12 occasions when they might have intervened to protect the girl and Lord Laming, its chairman, wanted her views on the matter.

Kouao responded by haranguing the inquiry about her innocence. Instead of swearing the oath in the normal way, she launched into a series of objections about questions she had been told to expect.

"Nobody here is looking for the truth. You are all asking me about my private life, how much I earned, where I lived, not about the death of this child... I am treated as a monster, as guilty, and this is most unfair," she said.

"The reason that little girl is dead is because of the doctors... I came here to try to help other little girls and other little boys."

Kouao started giving evidence in French, but delivered most of it shouting in English, jabbing the air with her right hand as she sat handcuffed by her left to a guard.

"You are telling me that if I do not answer these questions you will add another six months to my prison sentence. How can that possibly affect me? I am already doing life. I am a pure innocent person in prison. No one wants to know the truth... I am not horrible. God is witness about this. That is why I stopped believing in God," she said.

Kouao, who is serving her sentence in Durham prison, appeared in a flowered print suit and red shawl and was placed at a desk within about four yards of Victoria's parents, Berthe and Francis Climbié.

She said the British authorities were wasting money that could be spent on needy children by bringing the Climbiés from Africa and putting them up at an expensive hotel.

"They did not love their little girl like me... If I told you what the parents did to her, you are going to be surprised," she said, alleging that they were not properly married.

Mrs Climbié said outside the hearing: "It has been extremely difficult. I have no remorse for her or the crime she has committed because of the lies she has been telling.

"She keeps on repeating that she did not kill my daughter. The question I must ask her is where is my daughter now? If Marie Therese had loved my daughter, she would be in my hands today."

Mr Climbié said: "We were hoping to hear a lot from her but unfortunately she has not come with something that could assist the inquiry. She has not apologised to us at all - she has been very insensitive towards us."

The Climbiés said they were married and denied Kouao's allegation that she adopted Victoria.

Imran Khan, their solicitor, said Kouao's evidence was a missed opportunity. "What we had hoped for was some remorse, some apology and some new information that could assist the inquiry. We have had none of this."

But her approach to the inquiry showed that nobody from the public services spending any time with Kouao should have been "hoodwinked" by her.

"Somebody should have spent the time to get behind her tissue of lies... A few more supplementary questions should have made it clear that this woman was not telling the truth," he said.

The Climbiés were asked if they were hoodwinked when they agreed to let Victoria go with Kouao to Europe. Mr Climbié did not answer directly, but said they were far away in Africa when the crimes were committed and not able to monitor what Kouao was doing to their daughter.

Kouao's evidence yesterday showed none of the beguiling plausibility that persuaded social workers, doctors, nurses and police officers that she was a caring parent. It was easy to understand why they might have been intimidated by her, but not how they might have been fooled.

Neil Garnham QC, counsel to the inquiry, eventually persuaded her to co-operate after a fashion by scrapping his prepared order of questions and giving her free rein to talk.

She said Lisa Arthurworrey, her social worker, did a good job, responding promptly to allegations that Manning was sexually abusing Victoria before they were withdrawn.

According to Kouao, the girl was in good health and dancing happily a week before her death, but her condition declined after she refused food for three days. She said questions should be asked of evangelical preachers who suggested the problem was caused by "bad spirits" and would clear within a week.

Kouao said she did not send Victoria to school because of her incontinence and habit of hiding faeces in other people's food. While attending school in France before coming to London, the girl "punished" a teacher who told her to be quiet by excreting in class.

She denied hitting Victoria. "You have to talk to the child. I didn't beat my children... There is smacking that is correct and smacking that is hatred. You don't kill people by smacking them," she said.

Kouao said Manning was her landlord and friend, but not her lover. He slept on the sofa in his studio flat in Tottenham, north London, while Kouao and Victoria slept on a quilt on the floor.

Kouao recalled that Victoria was "as cold as an ice block" when she eventually took her to hospital but this did not mean that she had kept her trussed-up in a bin bag and a prisoner in a freezing bathroom, as she been accused. "How can you put a human being in a bag. You would not even put an animal in a bag. I refuse to listen to this."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaKufmLamwNhoaWloYmS3orqOaXBom5yeuqO1xGespKaVrMA%3D