Pelka mum 'kept bruises a secret'

As she gave evidence for a second day during her trial, v Daniel Pelka's mother Magdelena Luczak was asked by the barrister for her boyfriend Mariusz Krezolek, why she had not taken the four-year-old boy to a doctor when he lost weight.

Luczak, who came to the UK from Poland in 2006, said: "Because Daniel would always have a lot of bruises.

"I tried to make it secret, what was happening to him - that is why I didn't go to the doctor's."

Read: Starved boy mum 'lost temper'

After the break in court, Daniel Pelka's mother was asked by Mariusz Krezolek's lawyer about lying during police interviews after her arrest.

Magdelena Luczak said that she didn't tell the truth because she was trying to protect herself.

Nigel Lambert QC said, "Daniel had just died from being whacked across the head by your partner". "Yes", she replied.

Mr Lambert asked, "You had stopped him from doing that you say? And he strangled you so you lost consciousness and wet yourself and woke up downstairs. This was the monster you are accusing of raping you. Why are you not going into the [police] interview telling the truth?"

Luczak replied, "Because I should have called the police after Mariusz hit Daniel on the head. I still didn't say the truth … I don't know what I was driven by".

He continued, "You were driven by saving our own skin". "Agreed", she answered.

Daniel Pelka's mother has said that her love for her partner Mariusz Krezolek meant she allowed him to abuse the four-year-old.

Nigel Lambert QC acting for Mr Krezolek asked her: "What were you doing day after day after day? Allowing Mariusz to act in the way you say he was?"

Magdalena Luczak replied: "I simply loved him so much that I allowed the treatment."

"Over and above your own children?"

"Yes."

"That's nonsense isn't it - that's complete nonsense. You are a woman who knows her own mind and knows what she wants out of life and you would not stand for that sort of behavior if it were being meted out by a partner without your say-so and approval."

She replies: "No I don't agree."

Magdelena Luczak has been asked in court about her drinking habits and how that impacted on her temper with her four-year-old son Daniel.During her cross-examination she was asked: "If you were drunk you would lose your temper with him (Daniel)."

She replied: "I wasn't drunk enough to lose control with the children."

Nigel Lambert QC put to her: "If you were sober you'd take a little a longer to lose your temper - but you did lose it."

"No" she replied.

Mr Lambert continued: "You couldn't cope with his growing eating habits could you.

She said: "He simply liked eating more and Mariusz (Krezolek) prohibited him from eating more."

Krezolek and Luczak, have both admitted a charge of child cruelty but deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

Magdelena Luczak, the mother Daniel Pelka has said that she "did not lose her temper" with the four-year-old when she found out he was stealing sandwiches from school.

When asked if she was 'stern' with Daniel Ms Luczak agreed, however she denied showing no emotion towards her son.

She said: "It's not that I wasn't having affection, I was upset he was taking sandwiches."

Nigel Lambert QC said: "You never hugged him - and that was you in public."To which she replied: "I always kissed him goodbye."

Mr Lambert continued: "Lisa Godfrey (one of Daniel's teachers) stopped telling you about you about the food, because you were very short tempered with Daniel. Another teacher Nicola Griffiths told us you did not seem to have a nice motherly approach to Daniel."

Ms Luczak replied: "Yes they stopped telling me, but I didn't lose my temper with him...Of course I showed concern...but I was always in a rush."

Magdelena Luczakis will be cross-examined today by Mariusz Krezolek's barrister.

Both of them are accused of killing four-year-old Daniel Pelka, Luczakis' son.

Giving evidence yesterday, Daniel's mother blamed his stepfather for his death.

Both deny his murder.

A mother accused of murdering her four year old son today blamed his stepfather for beating him about the head before he died.

She told a court that her partner "hated" Daniel Pelka and prevented her from feeding him, as well as punishing him nearly every day.

Both deny murdering Daniel.

ITV News' Sejal Karia's report Birmingham Crown Court:

This report contains details of a harrowing day's evidence of cruelty.

Read: Pelka accused 'punished' Daniel

A mother accused of starving and murdering her four-year-old son Daniel Pelka described the moment she discovered "he wasn't breathing" in the early hours of Saturday March 3.

Magdelena Luczak told the court: "When I was going upstairs I looked at Daniel's face in the box room. The face was totally different. There was green liquid coming from his mouth. I went in and checked, he wasn't breathing, I began shouting."

She also described the days leading up to that night. On Thursday March 1 Luczak claimed she was in the living room when she heard Mariusz Krezolek shouting at Daniel upstairs.

She said: "Daniel was crying, Mariusz was shouting at him because he'd wet himself.

"Mariusz hit him in the back of his head and Daniel fell to the front of him. I started shouting at him and Mariusz started strangling me."

According to Luczak's account, Krezolek then grabbed Daniel by his shirt and took him to the bathroom, while she went to fetch some new clothes.

"I was standing in the hallway between the bedrooms. Mariusz cleaned Daniel in a very unpleasant way. He grabbed him by the T-shirt and dragged him into the box room.

"He hit him again with a hand and he knocked him down to the mattress."

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.

Magdalena Luczak said Mariusz Krezolek told her that if she fed her son Daniel, she would have to take the children and leave the house.

Asked why she didn't leave, she said: "First of all, I wouldn't be allowed to take the baby. Secondly, I didn't have any money. All the money was going into Mariusz's account."

Magdalena Luczak has told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court that her son Daniel Pelka was being refused meals at home in January 2012, and that her partner Mariusz Krezolek checked the boy's belly to see if had eaten:

When asked by her barrister to explain "how it came about that a mother was prevented from feeding her own son", Luczak said: