Overview
- Desmond Bernard, testifying Thursday at Isleworth Crown Court, said he heard Janice Nix order his five‑year‑old sister into a bath as the child cried that the water was too hot.
- He told jurors he found Andrea limp and wrapped in a towel with skin coming off, and said she died five weeks later in a specialist burns unit.
- He said Nix told him to call it an accident and that, as an eight‑year‑old, he repeated that story out of fear until he went to police on October 6, 2022.
- Bernard alleged a pattern of abuse when Nix was a late‑teen partner to their father, including belt beatings, a cigarette burn, a bite, and being made to eat cat food.
- Nix, now 67 and living in Clapham, denies manslaughter and child‑cruelty charges, and the jury trial continues.