Family says desperate mother’s voice ‘not fully heard’ as her abuser is cleared of manslaughter
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Ryan Wellings was cleared of the manslaughter of Kiena Dawes, who endured two years of torment and blamed him for her death in a heartbreaking final note. The grief-stricken family of a mother who wrote “I was murdered” in a desperate suicide note believe her voice has “not been fully heard” after her abusive ex-partner was cleared of manslaughter.
![[Kiena’s mother Angela, centre, said her daughter had ‘brought so much love and kindness to this world’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/17/60408432453016f566bcdb72a2b114f4Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2ODcyOTQy-2.78681124.jpg)
In her final message to the world, mother Kiena Dawes claimed “Ryan Wellings killed me” and “ruined every bit of strength I had left”, after she endured two-and-a-half years of torment. Hours later, the bright and popular hairdresser, aged just 23, took her own life after dropping off her nine-month-old daughter with a friend – leaving the suicide note on her phone which she left next to the infant.
![[Wellings, 30, was found guilty of coercive and controlling behaviour but cleared of manslaughter]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/13/newFile-3-1.jpg)
In only the second prosecution of its kind, Wellings was charged with manslaughter over her suicide as jurors were told he threatened to douse her with acid and drill out her teeth in a brutal campaign of abuse. On Monday, he was found guilty of assault and subjecting her to coercive and controlling behaviour, but cleared over her death following a six-week trial at Preston Crown Court.
![[Photos shown to the jury reveal Kiena’s injuries following a final alleged assault by Wellings before she took her own life]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/09/15/6.-Injury-photos-of-Kiena-Dawes-from-the-assault-that-took-place-on-11th-July-2022---image-1.jpg)
Wellings, 30, who had previously been convicted for hitting another ex-partner, smiled and blew a kiss to his new girlfriend from the dock as he was led to the cells. In a heartbreaking statement outside court, Kiena’s mother Angela said that “justice has not been done in the way we hoped” as she described her daughter as a “rare gem”.
![[Kiena transformed from ‘a happy-go-lucky girl’ to someone who was ‘frightened all the time’, a friend told the court]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/09/14/12.1-Kiena.jpg)
