Hall of Shame

Mother jailed for assaulting kids

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3111544/Mother-jailed-for-assaulting-kids

NZPA

A woman who repeatedly assaulted her three children, including a one-year-old boy, has been jailed for 3-1/2 years.

The 41-year-old woman has name suppression to protect the identity of her children. She was found guilty by a jury last month on nine counts of assault with a weapon and one of assault on a child under the age of 14.

During the Dunedin District Court trial, the jury heard evidence that the children were assaulted over a 21 month period with weapons that included a jug cord, tent pole, belt and wooden spoon during various incidents in Napier, Gisborne and Invercargill.

In sentencing today, Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said the children had “suffered tremendously” over the period of the offending.

He said they were assaulted for everyday occurrences and lived in “a climate of violence and fear”.

Five of the charges of assault with a weapon were representative charges and the judge said he was satisfied the assaults happened on a regular basis.

He advised the woman to read the victim impact reports for the three children, who were aged from one to nine years when the offending started.

He noted the woman had shown remorse after being found guilty but said it was unfortunate to put the children through a trial that included cross-examination in court by her attorney following their video statements.

The woman strenuously denied 11 of the 12 charges, only conceding that she had hit one of the children with a belt because he put a hole in a wall.

Her defence on that charge was one of reasonable force, a defence that is no longer available under new “anti-smacking” legislation but still applies in this case because the incident happened before the new law came into force.

Judge O’Driscoll said he had considered not only making the woman’s name public but also the names of her three children so that the wider public would know what they had been through and show understanding for their resulting behavioural problems.

Defence counsel Tim Fournier took some issue with the impact statements of the three victims, saying it was not proved their behavioural problems were solely the result of the assaults.

However, the judge said the victim reports made “disturbing reading” and the children’s potential in life had been seriously compromised by that.

The youngest boy was suffering from post traumatic stress and the other boys were having social difficulties, anger and grief issues and displaying violent tendencies.

Hall of shame

Woman jailed over injuries to child

NZPA

A woman convicted of inflicting head injuries to her then three-year-old son has been told he is likely to need care for the rest of his life.

Itupa Julie Mikaio, 40, was today sentenced to a total of five years’ jail on three charges relating to incidents in Auckland in June last year.

In September, a High Court jury found Mikaio guilty of wounding son Benjamin with intent to injure and neglecting to provide him with the necessaries of life by delaying getting medical treatment.

Mikaio admitted the third charge she was sentenced on – injuring with intent.

That count related to an assault on Benjamin three days earlier, when he was struck on the body with a shoe and left with broken bones.

Justice Forrest Miller said the head injuries the boy received in the later incident had left him with bleak prospects of leading a normal life.

He noted a paediatrician’s evidence at trial that it was doubtful Benjamin, who now had difficulty walking and talking and needed to wear a skull cap when he went outside, would have independence as an adult.

Justice Miller said Mikaio had shown remorse and contrition, had no previous convictions and was considered to be at a low risk of offending.

He also accepted that Mikaio was under stress at the time through being pregnant and having four other children as well as Benjamin to look after.

However, serious violence had been involved, the attacks had been prolonged and Benjamin had been vulnerable.

The judge said Mikaio had also sought to excuse herself “by advancing the fanciful notion” that the head injuries were the result of an accident.

Mikaio was charged after Benjamin was taken to Starship Hospital unconscious.

During the trial, the court was told that Benjamin was brought up by his paternal grandmother in Samoa between 2004 and 2007, when he went to live with Mikaio in Auckland.

However, mother and child had trouble bonding, and Mikaio found Benjamin troublesome and was also upset by his bedwetting.

The cause of the assault in which Benjamin received his head injuries was apparently because he had wet his bed again.

After that attack, Benjamin collapsed and Mikaio, who covered him with blankets and prayed for him, waited five hours before seeking help from a Samoan faith healer, who told her to get an ambulance.

Justice Miller said Benjamin had nearly died from internal bleeding and he drew the inference that the damage to his brain could have been materially reduced if an ambulance had been called earlier.

The defence had argued that Mikaio was not aware of how serious the injuries were.

Hall of Shame:

Father found guilty of 11-week-old’s murder

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3034435/Father-found-guilty-of-11-week-olds-murder

A South Auckland man accused of starving, beating and finally killing his 11-week-old daughter has been found guilty of murder.

The 12 day trial for Azees Mahomed, 31, and his wife Tabbasum Mahomed, 26, came to a close at Auckland’s High Court yesterday morning.

The six-woman and five-man jury deliberated for five hours before returning the unanimous verdicts this morning.

The couple’s daughter, 11-week-old Tahani Mahomed, died in Auckland’s Starship Hospital on New Years Day, 2008, after she arrived at Middlemore Hospital on December 28, 2007, with severe head injuries.

Azees Mahomed was found guilty of murdering Tahani.

The jury also found him guilty of two charges of grievous bodily harm – which relate to breaking his daughter’s leg and giving her a head injury so severe it caused brain damage between October 7 and December 26, 2007 – and one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life.

Tabbasum Mahomed was found guilty of one charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life.

Justice Harrison thanked the jury for their service in “a particularly difficult and traumatic trial”.

“The circumstances have been extraordinary and traumatic.”

The jury forewoman broke down in tears after delivering the verdict.

Justice Rhys Harrison summed up the case yesterday morning, telling the jury that given the tragic circumstances of baby Tahani’s death it was “only natural” if they had felt an “emotional response” during the trial.

“However I ask you when you sit down in the jury room to put those emotions aside and focus purely on the evidence.”

The burden of proof lay with the crown and the jury would have to be sure that each charge had been proven beyond reasonable doubt, Justice Harrison said.

On the opening day of the trial crown prosecutor Philip Hamlin had told the jury the South African born couple had treated their young daughter with “systematic neglect and violence”.

Tahani had been born healthy and of a good weight on October 7, 2007, but, just over two months later, lay dead, Mr Hamlin said.

“In 11 weeks, baby Tahani has been neglected and not fed.

“In 11 weeks, baby Tahani has been left in a hot car for hours.

“In 11 weeks, baby Tahani has brain injury from the first injury she suffered.

“In 11 weeks, baby Tahani was the victim of the second and fatal head injury,” Mr Hamlin told the jury.

The Crown alleged Tahani was murdered by her father when her head was “slammed against a very hard surface, twice”.

The second blow to head had been of such violence the child never recovered, Mr Hamlin said. Azees Mohamed was also responsible for pulling the baby’s left leg so hard it broke her shin bone, he said.

When the parents finally took their daughter to hospital on December 28, 2007, she was gravely ill, the court heard.

The doctor who examined Tahani when she arrived at Middlemore Hospital described her as severely “malnourished”, estimating her weight to be only 4 kilograms.

Mr Hamlin said that, when the Mahomeds had arrived at the hospital, they had told medical staff “they could not understand how or why the baby was in such a critical condition”.

Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Lynch of Manukau police said he was pleased with the outcome.

“It was clear very early on in the investigation that these were non-accidental injuries and there were only two people who could have inflicted them.

“I’d like to pay tribute to the investigation team and the Crown prosecution team for getting this result today.”

Police bugged the Mahomed’s home after the incident, and the intercepted taped conversations were played to the jury during the trial.

These tapes were very useful to police during the investigation, Mr Lynch said.

In the taped conversations, the couple could be heard praying to Allah and talking about how the infant could have been fatally injured.

The Mahomeds were remanded in custody until sentencing on December 15.