A MAN charged with murdering two-year-old Harry House told the court he believed the child’s mother was to blame and accused her of not caring after her son’s death.

Joseph Eke, 22, is accused of killing his then partner Lauren O’Neill’s son by beating him at their Broadmayne Home on May 26 last year.

Yesterday, Eke told the jury that Miss O’Neill, 22, was lying as he gave evidence in his trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Eke said: “You know half a side, half a lady, she is not like that it’s an act, a big act. She knows full well, she pretends, she is just a faker.

“All this crying- but after Harry passed away, and she was with me, she wasn’t crying, there was nothing there.”

On cross examination prosecutor Adam Feest QC put it to Eke that that when Miss O’Neill discovered Harry so ill she continually asked what happened.

Eke said: “Just because she said those questions means she didn’t do it? When I got to the hospital she ran over to me and hugged me but she wasn’t crying.”

The court previously heard that Harry was injured during the five minutes Miss O’Neill left her son alone with Eke to go to the shops.

Mr Feest questioned the defendant about his conflicting statements as to who was the last person to see Harry uninjured, accusing him of “finding an opportunity” for Miss O’Neill to have been alone with Harry.

Eke maintained he was downstairs on the sofa and that Miss O’Neill was the last person to see Harry before he was unwell.

Mr Feest said: “You were the last person to see Harry uninjured and the next time you saw him you injured him.

“You lost your temper with him, you punished him like when you squeezed him and cracked his ribs.”

The defendant claimed that if he had beaten the child Harry would not have behaved so lovingly towards him.

He said: “Do you think he would have wanted to come in and see me in the morning? Of course not, he would have been terrified of me, but he wasn’t scared of me because I didn’t do it.”

The jury also heard evidence from Eke’s sister Lisa Hughes, 24, who was living in nearby Crossways at the time of Harry’s death and would often take her three-year-old daughter to play with Harry.

Miss Hughes told the court that she had been contemplating contacting social services about Miss O’Neill’s behaviour as she would often stay up all night drinking and provided no routine for Harry.

She told the jury that in the week before Harry’s death she noticed a big bruise on his ear.

She said: “I asked him what he did to his ear and he replied ‘mum did it’. Lauren came back into the room and asked what was said, then she looked at Harry and said ‘the doggy did it didn’t he Harry?’”

Miss Hughes also told the jury that when Harry misbehaved Miss O’Neill would lock him in his bedroom for “hours on end.”

She said that when her brother was told about Harry’s death he was “heartbroken” and started crying.

Eke, of St Lawrence Road, Upwey, denies murder and charges of unlawful wounding and causing and grievous bodily harm.

Next week the court is expected to hear final statements and the jury is expected to retire to deliberate its verdict.