Mother, 23, told 999 operator ‘I don’t want to die’ just two weeks before she took her own life ‘after boyfriend’s years of domestic abuse’, court hears

A woman who took her own life following years of alleged abuse at the hands of her boyfriend told a 999 operator ‘I don’t want to die’ just two weeks before her death, a court heard.

Kiena Dawes, 23, was found by a railway near Garstang, Lancashire, after leaving a note on her phone claiming she had been ‘murdered slowly’ through abuse at the hands of her partner Ryan Wellings. 

Her body was discovered on July 22, 2022, having suffered multiple injuries when she was struck by a Glasgow-bound train travelling at 110mph. 

The mother-of-one was fearful of ending the relationship because Wellings had told her if she ever did ‘he would throw acid in her face like Katie Piper so nobody else would want to be with her’, it was heard previously.

Wellings, 30, is on trial accused of her manslaughter and the prosecution allege she died as as a result of his ‘unlawful acts’. He denies manslaughter, ABH and coercive control.

Prosecutors claim he took advantage of Kiena’s vulnerability due to her mental health, and subjected her to two-and-a-half years of coercive and controlling behaviour during their on-off relationship and was repeatedly violent and abusive towards her.

In a harrowing 999 call played in court, Kiena reported she had been involved in a road accident on July 4 and she said: ‘I don’t want to die.’

Ryan Wellings, 30, is on trial accused of her manslaughter and the prosecution allege she died as as a result of his ‘unlawful acts’

She told the operator she had been thinking about mental health and ‘didn’t even see the car in front’. 

She said: ‘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 operator she had been mentally unwell for a long time and took medication for her condition. 

When 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.’

The jury was told Kiena had a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) which put her at increased risk of suicide compared to the general population.

Dr Nicholas Kennedy told the jury that in February 2021, Kiena told health professionals she had a long standing fear of abandonment, which would have made it more difficult to walk away from a ‘toxic’ relationship. 

The doctor said Kiena had made previous attempts to take her life which represented her emotional state.

Ms Dawes, pictured, wrote that she hoped her daughter is ‘kept away from the monster’

He said on July 22, 2022, Kiena’s ‘baseline’ EUPD was aggravated by a number of factors. 

These were: ongoing domestic abuse, an incident on July 11 which resulted in her sustaining injuries, another incident on July 17 in which she claimed Wellings breached his bail and contacted her by phone, the anniversary of her father’s death and being told to remove a Facebook post in which she spoke about domestic abuse on July 18.

His abuse was a ‘significant factor’ in Kiena’s decision to take her own life, it’s claimed, with Wellings’ last attack coming just 11 days before she died.

Preston Crown Court heard that Kiena’s brother Kynan Dawes had taken a video call from her in the aftermath of an alleged attack, which left her with a cut head.

Mr Dawes told the jury: ‘Blood was pouring down her face and her lips and mouth were bleeding.

‘She was screaming on the telephone and asking me to help.

‘She said Ryan was going to kill her and I needed to get there and help.’

Mr Dawes said he had urged his sister to ‘stay away’ from Wellings and she’d told him she wanted to ‘make a change’ and wouldn’t ‘go near him ever again’.

He said he’d been made aware of previous incidents when his sister was allegedly attacked and he’d threatened to ‘cut off’ a tattoo of her name from Wellings’ neck.

Shortly after lockdown in March 2020, the couple had gone to live for a time in Bournemouth and it’s alleged a jealous Wellings ‘threw’ Kiana across the living room of their home after wrongly suspecting she had slept with another man.

Ryan Wellings, pictured, exploited the vulnerability that this mental health condition generated and he made it worse,’ it has been alleged

Mr Dawes recalled taking a phone call from his sister following the incident, which he said left her with bruises to her arms, legs and neck.

‘She said Ryan threw her across the living room, pinned her up by the throat by the television and threatened her,’ he told the jury.

He said Wellings’ attack was triggered by a text from another man Kurt Bradshaw which referenced an ongoing joke between him and Kiena that if she slept with him he would buy her a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes.

And because Kiena had got a pair of the shoes, Mr Dawes said, Wellings wouldn’t have ‘liked’ it if they had slept together but ‘that didn’t happen’.

Mr Dawes said he had later confronted a ‘crying’ Wellings at his ex’s home in Blackpool and given him ‘five minutes’ to tell him what had happened.

Wellings, he said, had told him he’d not ‘hit’ Kiena but he’d then threatened that he would ‘cut off her name from the back of his neck’ if he had – a reference to a tattoo Wellings got at start of the couple’s relationship.

Earlier, the jury heard how Mr Dawes had introduced the couple but he’d been surprised by the ‘speed’ their relationship progressed, which included Wellings getting the tattoo early on.

Mr Dawes went on to tell the jury about other alleged attacks his sister had told him about.

They included Wellings leaving her with a ‘black-eye’ when she was heavily pregnant, ‘trying to drown’ her by holding her head in baby bath water and holding a drill to her face and threatening to ‘drill her teeth out’.

The defence claim that Kiena’s descriptions of Wellings’s behaviour are either inaccurate, untrue or exaggerated and her death was not the consequence of any unlawful acts by Wellings

Mr Dawes said he’d wanted Kiena, who became ‘withdrawn’ over time, to leave Wellings and he’d offered to intervene.

But he said his sister had feared that would make ‘things worse’ and she’d not wanted him to threaten Wellings again.

The defence claim that Kiena’s descriptions of Wellings’s behaviour are either inaccurate, untrue or exaggerated and her death was not the consequence of any unlawful acts by Wellings.

It’s alleged she was a ‘deeply troubled’ young woman with a long psychiatric history, which included previous attempts to take her own life.

The trial continues.

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