Husband of SC Food Network star testifies in foster child death trial. Here’s what he said

The husband of a Food Network show winner cried as he testified Tuesday that he lied about the abuse his wife directed at their foster daughter because he did not want to lose their family.

Austin Robinson, who has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse, said his wife used a belt on 3-year-old Victoria Smith because the girl was not eating her pancakes fast enough. The beating caused bruising over much of her body, leading to her death.

But defense attorney Bill Bouton chipped away at his testimony by asking about the lies Austin Robinson told his wife throughout their 14-year marriage. He acknowledged he lied when he told her he graduated from high school and later that he earned a GED, despite her staging a party to celebrate.

He also said he lied twice about losing jobs and once parked in a lot of one employer so his wife would see on her tracking application on her phone where he was. He pawned items and when their house went into foreclosure he didn’t tell her. She learned it by reading a letter, he said.

It was the second day of the trial of Ariel Robinson and there were moments during her husband’s testimony when the courtroom fell completely silent as he paused during questioning.

Austin Robinson cried as he talked about the day Victoria died. Ariel Robinson wiped her eyes with a tissue.

Austin Robinson said he heard his wife yelling at Victoria and he could hear her being hit with something from outside the house as he did chores. He did not know his wife was hitting the child with a belt until he went inside.

It went on for about an hour, he said.

“You’ve gone too far this time,” he said he told his wife.

They put Victoria in an epsom bath and gave her Tylenol after he went to the store to buy some.

“I was balling my eyes out seeing the bruising,” he said. “I felt like this wasn’t going the right way.”

He said the last thing Victoria said to him was she loved him.

“I said I love you, too. I won’t let this happen again,” he testified.

He decided to tell law enforcement about the beating while he was in solitary confinement after his arrest. He said all he could do was think.

“I just wanted to say my peace and maybe get leniency,” he said.

Austin Robinson had originally been charged with homicide by child abuse, just as his wife is, but he was allowed to plead to the lesser charge of aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse. He faces 10 to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced at the trial’s end.

Homicide by child abuse carries a 25 year to life sentence.

Ariel Robinson told law enforcement the bruises on Victoria’s legs were from being hit by her 7-year-old brother, who had anger issues.

A series of firefighters, police and paramedics have testified a child was not capable of inflicting such deep bruises.

Bethel Elementary School teacher Penny Knight said the brother was a tenderhearted child, meek, mild and quiet. She said she knew of three instances in his previous school where he lashed out at other children.

Dr. Jacqueline Granger, who works in the pediatric emergency care department at Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital, testified that when Victoria was brought in by paramedics shortly after 3 p.m. she had no heartbeat, was not breathing and had no brain activity.

Her prognosis was poor as to life, the doctor said.

Multiple doctors, nurses and other medical personnel attempted to revive her but at 8:49 p.m. she was pronounced dead.

Christy Sustkovitch, the lead prosecutor on the case, told the jury during her opening statement Monday that Victoria’s cause of death was blood pooling in her legs that could not get back to the heart.

Victoria and her two older brothers had been in the custody of Ariel and Austin Robinson for less than a year. The Robinsons were scheduled to adopt them a few days after Victoria died.

Ariel Robinson has been held in the Greenville County Detention Center since her arrest. Ariel Robinson won the Food Network television show “Worst Cooks in America” in August 2020.

This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 7:07 PM.