REMEMBERING KEANU

 

Keanu Williams was a two year old little boy known affectionately as “Kiwi.”

 

He was the youngest of three children.

 

Keanu should have been living the ordinary life of a toddler, learning new words, discovering the world around him and growing more independent with each passing day.

 

Instead, much of his short life became surrounded by instability, concerns about his safety and involvement from professionals who were supposed to protect him.

 

Keanu was seen.

 

People knew his name.

 

Professionals entered his life.

 

Concerns were raised.

 

Yet somehow, the little boy at the center of all those records became increasingly invisible.

 

By January 2011, Keanu had suffered months of abuse.

 

His body carried injuries from more than one incident.

 

He was only two years old when the final assault took his life.

 

KEANU’S STORY

 

Keanu lived in Birmingham with his mother, Rebecca Shuttleworth.

 

Rebecca had a history of involvement with social services, and concerns surrounding Keanu began even before he was born.

 

Throughout his short life, different agencies came into contact with him and his family.

 

There were concerns about neglect.

 

There were concerns about physical injuries.

 

There were concerns about the adults around him.

 

But Keanu remained in his mother’s care.

 

Over time, his injuries accumulated.

 

Rebecca repeatedly offered explanations for them, including that Keanu was clumsy or had been fighting with other children.

 

Those explanations were too often accepted.

 

In the months before his death, Keanu suffered burns and bruising.

 

In autumn 2010, concerns about a burn to his foot resulted in a child protection medical examination.

 

Still, he remained at home.

 

Between Christmas and New Year, Keanu attended his two year developmental check.

 

Another opportunity to recognize what was happening to him passed.

 

In early January 2011, staff at Keanu’s nursery noticed bruising.

 

They questioned Rebecca about the injuries.

 

But the concerns were not reported to social care.

 

The following day, Keanu attended an audiology appointment.

 

Three days later, he was dead.

 

The violence that ultimately killed Keanu was devastating.

 

His fatal abdominal injury was inflicted as much as 48 hours before emergency services were called.

 

Rebecca did not obtain medical treatment for him during those hours.

 

On January 9, 2011, Rebecca’s partner, Luke Southerton, called emergency services and reported that Keanu was having difficulty breathing.

 

Paramedics arrived and attempted CPR.

 

Keanu was transported to the hospital.

 

At 8:35 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

 

The examination of his body revealed the extent of what he had endured.

 

Keanu had 37 separate external injuries.

 

There was bruising to his head, chest, abdomen and back.

 

His skull had been fractured.

 

Some bruising had a distinctive pattern consistent with being struck forcefully with an object.

 

The injury that killed him was catastrophic.

 

There was a massive tear inside his abdomen that caused substantial internal bleeding.

 

Medical evidence showed that the force necessary to produce the injury was comparable to the force involved in a road traffic collision.

 

Keanu had not suffered one accidental injury.

 

His body showed the evidence of repeated violence.

 

SYSTEM FAILURES

 

Keanu’s death led to an extensive Serious Case Review.

 

Its conclusion was devastating.

 

Professionals had missed a significant number of opportunities to protect him.

 

Keanu and his family had contact with social workers, health professionals, police and nursery staff.

 

Information existed across different agencies.

 

But it was not brought together effectively.

 

Professionals repeatedly focused on individual incidents rather than looking at the accumulating pattern surrounding Keanu.

 

Rebecca’s explanations for injuries were too readily accepted.

 

Assessments were not sufficiently updated as circumstances changed.

 

Professionals did not consistently maintain their focus on the child standing in front of them.

 

One of the most significant opportunities occurred in November 2009.

 

A social worker produced a report clearly identifying risks surrounding Keanu.

 

A child protection case conference considered the information.

 

But the conference decided that Keanu did not require a child protection plan and that the family instead needed practical support.

 

Keanu remained with his mother.

 

More opportunities followed.

 

There was the child protection medical examination after concerns about the burn to his foot.

 

There was his two year developmental assessment.

 

There were the bruises noticed by nursery staff shortly before his death.

 

There was his audiology appointment.

 

Different professionals saw pieces of Keanu’s life.

 

No one successfully assembled those pieces into the full picture before it was too late.

 

The Serious Case Review ultimately described a little boy who had become invisible within the very processes intended to protect him.

 

Keanu was not invisible.

 

The system failed to see him clearly.

 

WARNING SIGNS

 

Keanu’s case contained warning signs throughout his short life.

 

There were repeated concerns about his care.

 

There were unexplained injuries.

 

There were burns.

 

There were bruises.

 

There were explanations that changed or minimized what professionals were seeing.

 

There were multiple agencies involved with the family.

 

And there was a child too young to explain for himself what was happening behind closed doors.

 

Shortly before his death, nursery workers saw bruising.

 

Instead of immediately escalating those concerns to social care, they questioned his mother.

 

Keanu then attended another health appointment.

 

Days later, he died.

 

No single professional held every piece of information.

 

But enough pieces existed.

 

Keanu needed the adults around him to communicate, question explanations, recognize patterns and act.

 

He did not have the ability to do those things himself.

 

JUSTICE FOR KEANU

 

Rebecca Shuttleworth was prosecuted for murdering her son.

 

Her trial at Birmingham Crown Court lasted approximately six months.

 

The jury heard extensive medical evidence showing that Keanu’s injuries resulted from repeated violence rather than accidents.

 

On June 24, 2013, Rebecca was convicted of murder.

 

The following day, she was sentenced to life imprisonment.

 

The judge ordered that she serve a minimum of 18 years before she could be considered for release.

 

Luke Southerton was also prosecuted.

 

He was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and causing or allowing Keanu’s death.

 

However, the jury convicted him of one count of child cruelty relating to an assault on Keanu.

 

He received a nine month suspended sentence and was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service.

 

Rebecca Shuttleworth

 

Relationship to Keanu: Mother

 

Conviction: Murder

 

Outcome: Guilty at trial

 

Sentence: Life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years

 

Luke Southerton

 

Relationship to Keanu: Mother’s partner

 

Conviction: Child cruelty

 

Outcome: Guilty at trial

 

Sentence: 9 month suspended sentence and 200 hours of community service

 

FOREVER REMEMBERED

 

Keanu Williams was two years old.

 

He was known as Kiwi.

 

He was the youngest of three children.

 

And long before his death became the subject of court proceedings, investigations and a Serious Case Review, he was simply a little boy who needed adults to protect him.

 

Many adults encountered Keanu during his short life.

 

Some saw individual injuries.

 

Some heard individual concerns.

 

Some read reports.

 

Some examined him.

 

Some cared for him at nursery.

 

The information existed.

 

But Keanu himself became lost among it.

 

After his death, professionals studied what went wrong.

 

Reports were written.

 

Procedures were reconsidered.

 

Birmingham’s child protection system faced intense scrutiny and reform.

 

Those changes mattered for the children who came afterward.

 

They could do nothing for Keanu.

 

Protection should not arrive in the form of lessons learned after a child is dead.

 

Keanu needed those lessons to have been learned while he was still alive.

 

He deserved adults who questioned the bruises.

 

He deserved someone who recognized the pattern.

 

He deserved medical treatment during the final hours when he was seriously injured.

 

He deserved to grow beyond two years old.

 

The reports may describe how Keanu became invisible.

 

Abuse Angels will do the opposite.

 

We will remember his name.

 

Keanu Williams.

 

Kiwi.

 

A little boy who should have been seen, heard and protected.

 

Abuse Angels remembers Keanu Williams.

 

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.