The mother of a toddler who died after being fatally assaulted by her Territorial Army corporal boyfriend whined 'it's not fair' as he was rushed to hospital.
Zoe Coutts, 35, was today convicted alongside Scott O'Connor, 36, over the death of little Kol Page, who was attacked at just two years old.
O'Connor assaulted Kol in April 2022 after meeting his mother on the dating app Bumble the previous autumn, leaving the youngster severely brain damaged and with injuries that would ultimately lead to his death two years later.
O'Connor, of southeast London, and Coutts, of Kent, were both accused of inflicting 'catastrophic' harm to Kol and concocting a 'tissue of lies' to avoid responsibility, even blaming the toddler for his own injuries.
They both denied murder and were today cleared of the charge at Southwark Crown Court.
But O'Connor was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter while Coutts was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, after 10 hours and 45 minutes of deliberations by a jury.
Mr Justice Johnson ordered reports and adjourned sentencing until May 8.
Now harrowing footage released by police shows how Coutts wailed as officers and paramedics arrived, moaning: 'It's not fair'.
Zoe Coutts (pictured), 35, was today convicted alongside Scott O'Connor, 36, over the death of little Kol Page - she was caught on camera moaning 'it's not fair' as police attended her address
Kol Page was fatally assaulted when he was just two years old by his mother's partner - he would die two years later aged just four and three months
She added: 'He's my baby. I do everything for my children'.
Ed Vickers, KC, prosecuting, earlier told jurors the abuse of Kol 'culminated in a blow or blows to his abdomen, in the early morning of 25 April 2022'. Kol died as a result of his injuries on June 29, 2024.
O'Connor lived with his parents in Peckham, southeast London, but visited his girlfriend at her home in Bromley on at least 39 occasions between March 11 and April 25, 2022.
Kol was seen by witnesses with 'a number of bruises' throughout March of that year, the court heard, and was photographed and filmed with two black eyes on April 9.
The child slept in his cot alongside his mother's bed, which the couple were sharing on April 24, and the next morning Coutts described him as 'pretty chesty', possibly with phlegm on his chest, causing him to be sick.
After Kol deteriorated, Coutts phoned a friend rather than an ambulance, leading to a delay in him receiving life-saving treatment that is thought to have left his brain deprived of oxygen, causing brain damage.
Paramedics were eventually called and arrived to find the toddler not breathing, with bruises over his face and a serious injury to his abdomen. Coutts claimed Kol had fallen out of a highchair.
She told police officers Kol had been fine that morning, and she went to get a snack and by the time she came back he was unconscious, the court heard.
Kol was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery. Medics found three injuries to his small bowel, which Mr Vickers said was caused with significant force by a punch, kick or stamp.
Kol's mother Zoe Coutts, 35, was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child at Southwark Crown Court
Scott O'Connor, 36, has been convicted of the manslaughter of Kol Page, who was just two years old when he was assaulted - he would die from his injuries two years later
He referred to the toddler's horrific injuries, including a hole in his duodenum - a section of the small intestine - leading to a 'catastrophic loss of blood'.
'Almost half of the blood in his system had drained out by the time he got to hospital,' Mr Vickers added.
After the assault, Kol was left with catastrophic brain injuries and severe disabilities which meant he required round-the-clock care. He was in hospital for 14 months and then moved in with a foster family, before he died aged four and three months.
Jurors were shown text messages between the couple - it was heard that days before the fatal assault, Coutts had messaged O'Connor to say Kol had been 'whinging', and O'Connor replied: 'Jesus slap him back to sleep lol'.
Prosecutor Mr Vickers said the comment could be seen as flippant or a 'joke' in isolation.
'But however much you put lol, it isn't funny, it is serious. These were horrific injuries.'
He told jurors: 'By 9 April a pattern of behaviour had become established, accepted and encouraged to continue.
'By the night of 24 April, the behaviour, control and disciplining of Kol and using violence on Kol had become normalised, accepted and encouraged.
'We say to you both defendants know perfectly well what happened that night... With an assault of that kind, the other couldn't have slept though it, couldn't have laid back and allowed it to continue.'
'It simply cannot have happened without the other knowing about it. They couldn't have been oblivious to the fact Kol was in fact dying.'
Mr Vickers referred to the defendants' 'sad and twisted' claims in their police interviews blaming Kol for his own injuries.
'It shows there was an agreement to stick a lie and there has been ever since. Even now on trial, on oath, they still won't tell you what happened.'
'The only two people who know what happened are sitting in this room and they have both refused to take responsibility.'
Kol slept in a cot next to his mother's bed which, that night, was also being shared by her boyfriend
During interview O'Connor sought to blame Kol for his catastrophic injuries, describing him as 'very clumsy'
Footage of O'Connor in custody shows he told detectives: 'What's happened, it's because of the way Kol is'.
Describing the youngster as 'very clumsy', he said he was 'always hurting himself' by running around and climbing over things. O'Connor further claimed Kol had sustained injuries to his face in the week of the assault by falling off his mother's bed.
Coutts also said in her police interview Kol was an active child, constantly running and climbing over furniture causing bruising.
Asked to explain injuries, Coutts claimed Kol 'bruised easily' as he has Von Willebrand disease, an inherited condition that stops blood from clotting properly.
She told police in a prepared statement: 'I have no knowledge as to how Kol suffered such injuries,' but insisted she was a 'good mother', adding: 'This is most definitely not caused by myself.'
Asked about injuries found on Kol's head, Coutts said: 'He tends to pull out his own hair and run his toy cards on his head. He is a very hyperactive child'.
Asked whether she ever kicked, stamped on or punched her son Coutts replied that she 'never' harmed him.
Giving evidence at court, she cried as she told the jury: 'I would never hit him, at all, ever.'
She said her partner had told her that Kol had sustained black eyes in an accidental fall while climbing out of his cot.
Giving evidence, O'Connor said Coutts was responsible for the boy's horrific injuries.
Cross-examining him, the prosecutor referred to harrowing photos of Kol during April 2022.
'This little boy is not even looking into the camera. He has been battered and bruised for several weeks. That little boy has been abused.' O'Connor replied: 'I agree.'
He was shown more photos of the boy covered in bruising but denied he was responsible for them.
Referring to the text message suggesting Coutts slap the toddler the prosecutor said: 'You were suggesting she should slap him because that was the new discipline you had introduced.'
Mr Vickers said O'Connor simply did not want Kol interfering with his relationship with Coutts and wanted quiet time at night.
Mr Vickers asked him: 'One of you stamped on him in his cot?'
O'Connor replied: 'It wasn't me. I didn't see her [Coutts] do it.'
Mr Vickers told O'Connor: 'You have both blamed each other. At the hospital you both started a tissue of lies, covering up what happened.'
O'Conner, who served as a corporal within the Territorial Army's Military Police, replied: 'Not at all.'
Millwall fan O'Connor previously smashed a pint glass over his own father's head outside a pub in 2012, the court heard.
His father suffered a bleed to his brain but the charge was dropped after O'Connor claimed he acted in self-defence.
O'Connor had a history of cocaine misuse and had previously tried to smash down a former partner's front door.
Coutts claimed she had no knowledge of his violent past.
Summing up the case Mr Justice Johnson told jurors: 'There is no dispute Kol was unlawfully killed.
'The prosecution don't have to prove in a case of joint enterprise who inflicted the fatal blows.'
He told jurors they may think that whoever inflicted the injuries on a small child 'must have intended to cause serious injury.'
The judge added that if they could find 'no intention to cause really serious harm' then it was open to clear the defendants of murder and convict them of manslaughter.
After the verdicts, Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn, whose homicide team led the investigation, said: 'Kol was an innocent little boy who suffered horrific abuse in the place where he should have been safest - at home with his mother.
'Coutts and her new boyfriend, O'Connor, tried to deceive paramedics, doctors and police officers, repeating lie after lie about how Kol came to be so seriously injured.
'It was the tireless work of detectives that exposed the couple's lies, combing through months of messages, appalling pictures and CCTV evidence to uncover the sustained abuse suffered by that little boy.
'I want to thank the first responders who tried to help Kol in a case that has been particularly harrowing for all involved, especially the doctors and nurses who cared for him over such as sustained period of time and his foster carers who gave him immense compassion and safety.
'Kol was boisterous, cheeky and endlessly loving to everyone who knew him. He should have had a bright future, but was instead let down by those who should have protected him most. He will always be remembered.'
Richard Murrison, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'Our thoughts, first and foremost, remain with Kol and everyone who knew and loved him.
'He was a little boy who, like all children, deserved to be safe, loved, and protected.
'It is devastating that he was failed in the worst possible way by the very people who should have cared for him most.
'The evidence in this case painted a deeply disturbing picture of the escalating abuse Kol suffered in his own home.
'Zoe Coutts' then partner, Scott O'Connor, was responsible for subjecting Kol to the horrific abuse which left him profoundly disabled and ultimately led to his death, and she took no action to stop or report it, allowing it to happen.'
Mr Murrison, a senior crown prosecutor for the CPS London Homicide Unit, added: 'This has been an incredibly complex and difficult case with multiple challenges being overcome.
'Securing these convictions has required tireless dedication from our prosecution team, working in close collaboration with trial counsel and the Metropolitan Police.
'Today's verdicts are a testament to the painstaking work of everyone involved and to our commitment in getting justice for Kol.'
