Logan Mwangi: Youth accused of murdering five-year-old spoke of killing people, court hears

A teenager who is among three people accused of murdering five-year-old Logan Mwangi had a “desire for violence” and spoke of killing people, a court has been told.

The body of Logan Mwangi, also known as Logan Williamson, was discovered in the River Ogmore in Sarn, Bridgend on July 31, 2021. He had suffered more than 56 injuries to his head and body.

His mother Angharad Williamson, 30, stepfather John Cole, 40, and a 14-year-old boy are on trial for Logan’s murder at Cardiff Crown Court.

In statements read to the court on Monday, a woman who the youth defendant lived with described how he had made her family's life “hell” during the several weeks he stayed with them last summer.

The woman said she had become concerned about what seemed like his “desire for violence”, detailing how he wanted to spar with every person he met.

The court heard he told members of the woman's family he wanted to kill them, explaining he would do so if The Purge, a film about a fictional holiday in the US when all crime, including murder, becomes decriminalised, became real.

A man, who was also living with the teenager for several weeks, said he had become “terrified” of him. He said the teenager had told him he wanted to “punch his lights out” through gritted teeth, adding that he would walk around chanting about how he wanted to kill people.

The court also heard how the youth insisted on pulling up a dog by his hind legs and kept him dangling even though he was aware the dog had an injured pelvis.

There was reference to an occasion when he had been witnessed spraying a can of deodorant into the dog’s eyes.

The jury heard how on more than one occasion the teenager, who was 13 years old at the time, had said he wanted to kill Logan.

The family said they continuously raised concerns about the youth’s behaviour and threats with a social worker but they were dismissed as “nonsense”.

“She just brushed it off as if it was nothing.”

As details of the teen’s behaviour was read to the court, Logan’s mother Angharad Williamson began crying loudly from the dock.

A neighbour of John Cole’s property, Sheryl Lewis, also gave evidence.

She told the jury that at around 9.20pm on the evening of July 31, several hours after Logan was found, she witnessed John Cole outside crying on the phone.

She told the court: “When I was coming back out I saw John Cole on the phone.

“He was crying on the phone.

“He said: ‘Help me, help me! What should I do, what should I do?'”

A number of social workers are due to give evidence in the trial as it continues.