'Abusive' boyfriend accused of driving his partner, 23, to suicide claims her friends 'twisted the truth' but admits £400 cocaine binges and steroid use
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An ‘abusive’ boyfriend accused of driving his partner to kill herself today claimed her friends had ‘twisted’ the truth about their relationship because they ‘blamed’ him for her death. Kiena Dawes was ‘ground down’ by two-and-a-half years of domestic violence to which she was subjected by partner Ryan Wellings, a jury has been told.
![[Ryan Wellings (pictured) admitted he sometimes ‘lost control’ under the influence of cocaine]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/18/93363139-14214979-image-a-25_1734719049077.jpg)
Having felt ‘unsupported’ by police after being left with a bloodied face in a later alleged assault by the 30-year-old in July 2022, she left their nine-month-old daughter with a friend before lying in the path of a train. A note was found on the 23-year-old’s phone after her death in which she wrote how she had been ‘murdered slowly’, adding: ‘Ryan Wellings killed me.’.
![[Ryan Wellings who is on trial for manslaughter told a jury he had given his partner Kiena Davies a black eye during an argument]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/18/93287381-14214979-Ryan_Wellings_who_is_on_trial_for_manslaughter_told_a_jury_he_ha-a-29_1734719081060.jpg)
Wellings denies the manslaughter of the ‘bright and popular’ hairdresser as well as assault causing actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship. Cross-examined today at Preston Crown Court, Wellings admitted he sometimes ‘lost control’ under the influence of cocaine.
![[A note was found on the 23-year-old’s phone after her death in which she wrote how she had been ‘murdered slowly’, adding: ‘Ryan Wellings killed me.’]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/18/93326271-14214979-image-a-27_1734719064502.jpg)
But he denied being ‘a brute’ to Ms Dawes and said that physical injuries she sustained during their arguments had all been inflicted accidentally. Jurors at Preston Crown Court have heard that Wellings allegedly ‘threw’ Ms Dawes across the living room and hurled a footstool at her in one row, causing her to cut her foot on broken glass.
![[Ms Dawes, pictured, wrote that she hoped her daughter is 'kept away from the monster who is called her dad']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/18/92495889-14214979-Ms_Dawes_pictured_wrote_that_she_hoped_her_daughter_is_kept_away-a-30_1734719088299.jpg)
