A north-east mum accused of causing her baby son’s death “polluted” his home with illegal drugs, a prosecutor has claimed.
Amy Beck denies exposing 13-week-old Olly-James to the party drugs mephedrone (M-cat) and MDMA, resulting in them entering his bloodstream before he died.
The 32-year-old has also pled not guilty to a charge of willfully neglecting two other children who also had drugs in their system.
It’s further claimed that Beck was dealing M-cat, another allegation that she has refuted throughout a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
During proceedings this week, Beck was acquitted of one charge of having cocaine in her possession.
On Friday, the prosecutor – advocate depute Erin Campbell – gave her final speech to a jury, describing evidence of Beck dealing M-cat as “overwhelming”.
Amy Beck’s baby death trial hears claims that her alleged drug dealing ‘contaminated’ the family home
She claimed that as a result of Beck’s “drug dealing, drug taking and by allowing other drug users into the home” she had “contaminated” the family home in Sandhaven, near Fraserburgh.
The advocate depute told jurors it was “indisputable” that baby Olly-James had been exposed to M-cat and that it contributed to his death.
“It was in the air, on surfaces and on DVD cases,” Ms Campbell told the court, adding: “Mephedrone was in the milk, in the baby bottle and in the kitchen.
“His bottle on the day he died had mephedrone in it – the environment became polluted by these drugs.”
Prosecutor claims ‘anxious and distressing case’ presented ‘persuasive’ evidence that Amy Beck caused her baby’s death
Describing the evidence against Beck as “plentiful, compelling and persuasive”, the advocate depute urged the jury to convict Beck of causing the death of her infant son.
“This has been an anxious and distressing case,” Ms Campbell said. “It’s the sort of case where sympathy comes naturally to us.
“Amy Beck has lost her baby boy and now she faces a situation where she is being prosecuted in the High Court.
“You must ensure that your decisions are based on evidence and not sympathy – this is a court of law not a court of morals.”
However, in his final speech to the jury, Beck’s defence advocate David Moggach argued that the Crown hadn’t conclusively proven there was any contamination of his client’s home by illicit drugs.
“Did you hear of anyone testing surfaces in this house? This house that was ‘polluted’ by drugs,” he asked the jury.
“No, you didn’t. How can you be satisfied that the house is polluted by drugs? No drugs were found there. No drugs were found there at all.”
Mr Moggach added that M-cat being found in Olly-James’ system following his death had not been conclusively proven as contributing to his death.
Amy Beck’s defence lawyer tells jury that drugs in her baby’s system isn’t proof that’s what killed him
Earlier in the trial, it was claimed that the main cause of death on the autopsy report was listed as peritonitis, which can be caused by a ruptured bowel, and M-cat exposure was listed as a secondary cause.
The defence advocate stated that the implications of M-cat being in a young child’s bloodstream was unknown.
“Children can have it in their system with no apparent adverse effects, so, how can we know that it contributed to Olly-James’ death?” he asked.
“Just because you’ve got it in your system does not mean you’re going to die.”
Trial hears evidence from expert claiming the drug M-cat partly caused death of Amy Beck’s baby
Earlier on Friday, jurors heard from histopathologist Dr Andreas Marnerides, an expert in the study of tissues and cells, who reviewed Olly-James’ autopsy and postmortem.
He stated that, in his opinion, “on the balance of probability” M-cat exposure in combination with peritonitis was the main cause of Olly-James’ death.
“It was the combination effect that resulted in death,” Dr Marnerides added.
The trial, before Judge Fiona Tait at the High Court in Aberdeen, continues.
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