Father launches expletive-laden rampage in front of 'bruised' daughter he stands accused of murdering
Confronting footage of a ‘bullying’ and verbally abusive father yelling “f--- off” to his six-year-old child has been shown to a stunned courtroom as he stands trial for her brutal murder.
Ben Butler, 36, is accused of murdering six-year-old Ellie and is currently on trial at the Old Bailey, in London.
Butler can be seen in a secretly filmed video shown in court launching into an aggressive and foul-mouthed tirade while his young child stands motionless in front of him.
The child can be seen in the confronting clip standing frozen and terrified in the kitchen of their home in London as her father yells aggressively.
The video then pans out to show the child standing with a bandage wrapped around her right leg.
The father is heard screaming in the angry expletive-laden outburst:
“Don’t ask me to do something which you ain’t f---ing done and then sort it out. Now f--- off.”
The little girl is dressed in pink pyjamas in the footage with what appears to be a 'bruised and blackened' eye.
It’s not known precisely when the footage was captured.
The vision is one of three clips that were shown to the jury after being found on a Samsung camera inside the Butler home following the child’s death.
The courtroom has previously heard how Butler was “constantly teetering on the edge of a violent loss of temper” and his “short fuse” dominated their “toxic” family life.
Butler is also accused of child cruelty relating to an untreated broken shoulder Ellie suffered weeks before her death.
Ellie was found dead in her bedroom with "catastrophic" head injuries normally seen in car crash victims.
In October 2013, paramedics found Ellie lying dead in her bedroom in a "carefully coordinated and elaborate" cover-up to make it look like an accident.
Ellie suffered underlying brain and eye injuries, as well as bruising under her jaw, which was consistent with finger-gripping.
The girl's mother, Jennie Gray, is accused of helping Butler to cover up the murder.
CCTV shown earlier in the trial to a packed courthouse reveals the "anxious" moments before a mother allegedly helped Butler carry out a "carefully coordinated and elaborate" cover-up of her six-year-old daughter's murder.
Giving evidence in court in April 21, cab driver Derek Greenwood said the girl's mother appeared "quite anxious" when he picked her up.
The father called Gray at 12.46pm but was diverted to voicemail before he sent her a text message saying: "answer".
The mother called him back immediately and, according to phone records, they spoke for 21 seconds.
CCTV played in court showed Jennie Gray sprinting from her London office two minutes later and getting into Greenwood's cab.
The cab driver recalls the mother telling him her “child was really ill” and offered to pay him $100 to drive to her family home almost 20 kilometres away.
Greenwood said he overheard an “agitated” Gray asking someone over the phone: "You have done what?", "You have gone where?" and "You're joking".
Two hours later, Butler called an ambulance saying his daughter had fallen off a stool.
During this time, Gray messaged her boss to say she had gone home because she was “feeling unwell”.
Butler and Gray then allegedly set a "carefully coordinated and elaborate" cover-up into motion to make it look like an accident.
During the time following the child's death, the pair allegedly pretended to behave in a 'normal' manner.
Clothes were thrown in the wash and Gray's diary was torn up while Butler took his Jack Russell puppy for a walk and even commented on the weather to a neighbour.
"They are not the actions of an innocent man wracked by grief at the unexpected and inexplicable death of his young daughter,” Prosecutor Edward Brown QC said in court.
"Ben Butler was an angry and violent man with a short fuse.”
Butler has had a previous conviction in relation to abusing his daughter.
In 2007 he was found guilty of inflicting serious head injuries on Ellie who was subsequently put into foster care.
His conviction was quashed in 2010 and the little girl was later returned to her parents.
The court heard Butler was frequently angry and resented his responsibility to look after Ellie as well as having contempt for Gray, who he had "significant" control over.
Gray had conducted internet searches for "magic spells to make him love me again" and "urgent spell to make him be sorry for hurting me".
The court believed Gray would do anything for Butler, despite being called a "dog whore" and an "ugly bitch.”
The trial continues.
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