MEDIA RELEASE

29 July 2010

Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse Is First Step

‘How many more children have to die before we do something?’

Family First NZ is repeating its call for a Commission of Inquiry into the unacceptable levels of child abuse and deaths in NZ, and says that it will be an important first step in identifying and targeting the real causes of child abuse.

The call comes following the death of 6 month old Cezar Taylor. More than 20 children have been killed since the passing of the anti-smacking law, maintaining the rate of child abuse deaths that existed before the law change.

“We are tip-toeing around the real issues of alcohol abuse, drugs, declining rates of marriage, increasing levels of violence and sexual content in our media, and welfare which rewards dysfunction,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“We must take pro-active action and tackle head-on these difficult issues as well as mental illness, low maternal age, and other key factors identified by UNICEF and CYF reports.”

“The 88% of voters in the recent Referendum who opposed the anti-smacking law are NZ’ers exasperated with the fact that politicians and government funded groups seem more interested in targeting good parents than tackling these much tougher issues.”

“These latest cases are yet another wake-up call that children will never be safe until we are honest enough as a country to identify and tackle the real causes of child abuse.”

“An independent Inquiry free of political correctness and agendas would be an important first step,” says Mr McCoskrie.

www.stoptheabuse.org.nz

HALL OF SHAME

Since Anti-smacking law was passed

1. 16 month old Sachin Dhani June 2007

2. 28-year-old woman charged with murdering a newborn baby found dead in the backyard of a Te Mome Road property in Alicetown – June 2007

3. 22-month-old Tyla-Maree Darryl Flynn June 2007

4. 3 year old Nia Glassie July 2007

5. Ten-month-old Jyniah Mary Te Awa September 2007 Manurewa

6. Two-month-old Tahani Mahomed December 2007 Otahuhu

7. 3 year old Dylan Hohepa Tonga Rimoni April 2008 Drury

8. A 27-year-old Dunedin mother of five admitted infanticide. On May 26 she lost control, banged the baby’s head repeatedly against the couch, choked her, then threw her on the bed and covered her with a blanket. May 2008

9. 7-year-old Duwayne Toetu Taote Pailegutu. July 2008

10.  16-month old Riley Justin Osborne (Kerikeri) boy Dec 2008

11. Three-year-old Cherish Tahuri-Wright (Marton) Feb 2009

12. Five-week-old Jayrhis Ian Te Koha Lock-Tata (Taupo) Mar 2009

13. One-year-old Trent James Matthews – aka Michael Matthews Jun 2009

14. Two-year-old Jacqui Peterson-Davis Kaitaia Aug 09

15. Three-year-old Kash McKinnon Palmerston North Aug 09

16. Baby death arrest Green Bay 26 Aug 2009 http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?id=41369

17. 22 month old Hail-Sage McClutchie Morrinsville 27 Sep 2009

18. Karl Perigo-Check Junior Wanganui 25 Oct 2009

19. 13 month old New Lynn 18 Feb 2010
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10626907

20. Infanticide Waltham 18 Feb 2010
Police investigating the death of a baby who was found at a Christchurch address yesterday are looking for the child’s mother.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3342576/Police-appeal-for-dead-babys-mother

21. Cezar Taylor 6 months July 2010

ENDS

For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

Bob McCoskrie JP – National Director

Tel. 09 261 2426 | Mob. 027 55 555 42

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.