Kiena Dawes said her relationship with Ryan Wellings turned from ‘fairy tale to nightmare’.
Here is a timeline of the two years of abuse she suffered:
– January 26, 2020 – Kiena is introduced to father-of-two Wellings by her brother and an ‘intense’ relationship begins. He has tattoos of her face and name within a week of meeting.
– February 25, 2020 – the first hint of trouble, Kiena sends him a message, saying: ‘Stop hurting me now xxxx.’
– April 3, 2020 – Wellings proposes. She agrees.
– May 3, 2020 – Wellings, in drink, becomes jealous and angry and attempts to strangle Kiena with an iPhone charger cable, leaving her bruised and badly shaken up.
– May 29, 2020 – Wellings accuses Kiena of cheating and throws a stool at her, screaming she is a ‘slag’ and telling her to kill herself. He throws Ms Dawes to the ground and she cuts her foot on broken glass. He later apologises.
– July 20 2020 – Kiena’s father, Russell Dawes, who she is very close to, dies suddenly.
– August 28, 2020 – Ms Dawes sends text messages to Wellings saying: “You’ve f****** terrorised me… You’re a bully.”
– Christmas 2020 – Kiena tells Wellings she is leaving him. She is ‘ragged around’ by her hair and he demands money from her. Her mother tells Kiena to call police but she makes up with Wellings the next day.
– February 2021 – Kiena becomes pregnant. Wellings begins calling her ‘fat’ and starts talking to prostitutes and escorts online. She has to stop taking medication and her mental health condition deteriorates.
– February 20, 2021 – Kiena is admitted to a mental hospital for three weeks feeling suicidal. Wellings tells her no one believes her complaints about him due to her mental issues and her unborn child would be taken from her.
– April 17, 2021 – Kiena kicks Wellings out of her flat because he was cheating. Wellings threatens to torch her car, updates his Facebook profile to show him sitting in a car, smiling and holding a lighter.
– May 8, 2021 – Wellings smashes up the home-made shrine of candles and a photo Kiena had made of her late father. He threatens to flush her father’s ashes down the toilet.
– July 5, 2021 – Kiena, six months pregnant, is given a black eye by Wellings. She rang the police but before they arrive he tells her they will take their unborn child off them. When officers arrive she tells them it was just a verbal argument. Wellings apologises and promises not to do it again.
– August 2, 2021 – Kiena sends a WhatsApp to Wellings of some of the things he has said to her: ‘You think your life is hell now, when the baby gets here I’ll make it f****** hell… You’re a fat little bitch. Your (family) are dossers. You’ve got a shit life. No one loves you. Stop f****** crying.’
– August 4, 2021 – Kiena calls police for a second time, saying the couple had split but Wellings was trying to take her property from their flat. She tells officers Wellings had assaulted her in the past.
– September 23, 2021 – Kiena sends Wellings a message, ‘You’ve raised your fist to me twice this week… You’ll never change.’
– October 13, 2021 – Ms Dawes gives birth to their daughter.
– November 21, 2021 – Kiena’s mother Angela calls 999 saying Wellings was refusing to leave their flat, with Ms Dawes complaining he was ‘terrorising’ her.
– Christmas 2021 – During a row Wellings turns his cordless drill on and puts it to Ms Dawes’s face, threatening to drill her teeth out.
– January 4, 2022 – Kiena calls the National Domestic Abuse Helpline reporting abuse and violence from Wellings.
– March 11, 2022 – Kiena is bathing their daughter and Wellings grabs her head and dunks it in the baby bath, threatening to drown her.
– March 15, 2022 – Kiena makes her first witness statement to police after calling 999, reporting domestic violence. Wellings is arrested on suspicion of assault. However she tells police she does not want to pursue a complaint and takes him back again.
– Police arrange for a panic alarm to be installed in Ms Dawes’s flat.
– June 13, 2022 – Wellings pushes Ms Dawes over the back of their sofa, grabs and hits her after she answered Wellings back, which ‘triggers his anger’.
– July 4, 2022 – Kiena drives into the back of a car, telling paramedics, she forgot she was on the road and was thinking about taking her own life and that she needs help.
– July 11, 2022 – Covered in blood, Kiena calls 999 reporting Wellings had ‘launched’ her into a bathroom radiator knocking it from a wall and slammed a door in her face, knocking her out and cutting her head. She is treated in hospital for her injuries. Wellings is arrested and bailed not to contact Ms Dawes.
– July 17, 2022 – Wellings calls Kiena in the early hours of the morning with threats. She reports this to police but it is not treated as a breach of bail, leaving her feeling ‘unsupported’.
– July 22, 2022 – Kiena is killed on a railway line. She had left her daughter with a friend along with a suicide note saying, ‘Ryan Wellings killed me’.