A woman has been jailed for 12 years after killing her five-year-old step-daughter by placing her in a scalding hot bath. Janice Nix, 67, forced Andrea Bernard into the bath as punishment in Thornton Heath, south London, in 1978. Andrea later died from sepsis, with officials initially considering her death accidental until her brother Desmond came forward to police in 2022.
Brother's Testimony
Desmond, now 56, testified that on June 6, 1978, Andrea had left the house rather than helping Nix clean. When she returned, Nix beat her. Desmond then heard the bath running and recalled: 'I could hear Janice shouting, "Get in the bath" and I could hear Andrea saying, "The bath is too hot, mummy".' He continued: 'I could hear Janice shouting, "Get in the bath, get in the bath," and then I heard screaming and splashing. Then I heard the screaming stopped and I could hear Janice calling Andrea to "wake up, wake up".'
Desmond said he walked into the bathroom and saw Nix cradling Andrea, who was 'limp' and wrapped in a towel. 'I could see skin falling off her,' he told jurors. When asked whether Nix said anything, Mr Bernard stated: 'She asked me to say it was an accident… and to say that we were in the garden when it happened and that she would never beat me again.'
History of Abuse
Desmond described living in fear of Nix's punishments and sobbed in the witness box at Isleworth Crown Court as he recalled the abuse he endured, including being beaten with a belt, bitten, burnt with a cigarette, and made to eat cat food.
Sentencing
Nix, of Clapham, south London, was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 12 years. She was also convicted of cruelty to Mr Bernard between October 1975 and June 1978, when he was between the ages of seven and nine.
