A former social worker who saw head injuries on tr

A former social worker who saw head injuries on tragic eight-year-old Anna Climbie before she died told a court today: ‘I wish I could have done more.

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Grace Quansah, an ex-teacher who had worked for a children’s charity, spoke to her mother about the girl but did not contact the authorities.

She said she now felt ‘terrible’ about Anna’s death.

The mother-of-three was related to the girl, who was to die of hypothermia after she was kept in a bath for five months and fed ‘like a dog’ the Old Bailey heard.

The victim’s adopted mother, Marie Teresa Kouao, 44, who is accused of her murder, was the sister of Mrs Quansah’s mother, the jury was told.

Kouao, her sister and the little girl came to visit the the former social worker in April last year.

Mrs Quansah said she noticed marks on the girl’s head, who had been wearing a ‘ridiculous’ wig.

She also appeared ‘small and frail.

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‘When the girl entered I was surprised because she had a wig on her head, it was an adult size wig.

‘She seemed very thin, very frail, and she was smaller than my four year-old boy.

‘I eventually pulled the wig off and looked at her scalp.

I was shocked.

‘Her head had pieces of hair and there seemed to be healing wounds on the skull.

I didn’t think it was eczema because one of my children suffers from eczema.

‘I asked Marie what was wrong.

She shrugged her shoulders and said she didn’t know.

She said she had taken the child to a doctor.

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Kouao then explained to her the girl was doubly incontinent, Mrs Quansah said.

‘She told me: ”I beat her because of this.

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‘I told her you should not beat her.

You should try to find out what is wring with this child.

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Kouao made no reply, Mr Quansah said.

Mrs Quansah then encouraged her young son to play with Anna but she was reluctant.

‘She did show any interest at all in playing with the toys.

She was looking to Teresa almost for approval,’ Mrs Quansah said.

‘Because of my experience, my opinion was she was traumatised.

It didn’t seem to be right she was defaecating at the age of six.

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Mrs Quansah said Kouao seemed to have no bond with the little girl .

‘The child was looking up to Teresa as if she was a figure or authority, but not necessarily a carer.

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Later Mrs Quansah was introduced to Kouao’s boyfriend Carl Manning when she bumped into them in the street.

‘I felt even then they looked like a very unlikely couple,’ she recalled.

Mrs Quansah said she spoke to her mother about Anna’s condition but took no other action.

She said she had Kouao’s address and intended to visit, but told the court she lost the piece of paper it was written on.

‘It was most unfortunate,’ said Mrs Quansah.

‘I did not contact any authority myself but I spoke to my mother.

‘With hindsight of course I feel absolutely terrible.

I wish I could have done more

‘I am very sad about what happened.

I can look back now and say I could have done more.

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Mrs Quansah told the court she had been employed as as a teacher, ‘generic’ or unqualified social worker with Lambeth council and has also worked for the children’s charity Barnardos.

The address in Somerset Gardens where Anna died was opposite the Tottenham college where Mrs Quansah was studying.

She had suffered 128 injuries and had been attacked with lit cigarettes a bicycle chain and a belt buckle.

Kouao was claiming social security for one daughter in France when the girl was in fact living in the Ivory Coast, the court has heard

She and Manning, 28, both deny murder.

Kouao further denies manslaughter and child cruelty.

The trial continues.

ends