A SCHOOLGIRL described how she begged her mum’s ex-partner not to hurt her mum or younger sister.

David Oakes, 50, denies murdering his ex-partner, Christine Chambers, 38 and their two-year-old daughter Shania Chambers, at their home in Bartram Avenue, Braintree last June.

Oakes, of Steeple Bay caravan park in Canney Road, Steeple, is alleged to have shot them at point blank range with a shotgun before turning the gun on himself.

Miss Chamber’s 11-year-old daughter managed to escape the house through a first-floor window on to a flat roof above the kitchen before running to her father’s house for help.

The youngster, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told Chelmsford Crown Court she heard Oakes threaten to mutilate her mother.

In a video interview, recorded two days after the attack, the court heard the girl say: “He let himself in to the house with a key and had a bag of weapons.

“He came in when we were about to go to sleep and Mummy said, ‘Get out my house’.

“We were all in Mummy’s bed because we had been watching a DVD together.

“Dave came in, turned on the light and said, ‘You know why I am here’, but Mummy said ‘No I don’t’.”

“He then got a gun out a navy blue bag and loaded it with ten bullets.

“He had a blue petrol can, an axe and a pair of scissors in the bag and kept saying he was going to burn our house down.

“He then put then gun to mummy’s head and made her cut bits of her hair off with the scissors.”

The girl told the court: “Mummy was crying but he did not even shed a tear.

“He made her kiss and hug him.

“He said ‘I want you to come back’, he made her say ‘I love you’ but said he did not believe her.

“Mummy said she was sorry and would do anything.”

The girl said she pleaded with Oakes not to harm her sister or mum.

She said he replied: “Yeah, whatever.”

She added: “Me and my sister were sent to her room.

“Shania went to sleep but I couldn’t.

“I went to my own room and fake cried so Mummy would come to me.

“She came up. Her eye was purple and swollen and she was bleeding.

“She whispered for me to jump out the window before anything bad happened.

“Before I went I ran downstairs and Dave threw a gun at my back.”

The girl told the court Oakes had taken their mobile phones so they were unable to telephone for help.

She said he told her mum if she fought back he would kill her daughters.

Oakes was not in court to see the girl give evidence. The court was told he was feeling unwell.

Juror have heard he claimed Miss Chambers had shot Shania dead and she had died as he struggled to get the gun from her.

He also alleged she had shot him during the late night incident.

Under cross examination, Nigel Lithman QC, defending Oakes, told Miss Chambers’ older daughter: “If I said to you your mum shot Shania, I expect you would say ‘don’t be silly’, wouldn’t you?”

She replied: “Yes.”

He then asked: “Why did you not try to run out the front door while this was going on?”

She responded: “I tried to get to the front door but he threw a gun at my back so I ran upstairs.”

The trial continues.

To read full reports see this week's Times