A man stands accused of beating a Palmerston North toddler to death because the three-year-old girl got a toilet roll wet…
Read more here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/4625745/Man-denies-murdering-toddler
Matene Te Aho stands at about 1.8 metres, is covered in tattoos and weighs more than 125kg.
Get him talking about his dead five-month-old son though, and his compassion and loss is palpable.
Mikara Ranui Jarius Reti died shortly after family members on his maternal side took him from Flaxmere to Hawke’s Bay Hospital last Tuesday.
Children’s advocates say New Zealand is right to feel a “sense of shame” over rates of child abuse, after the latest death.
Police have arrested and charged a 21-year-old Hastings man with manslaughter.
The man appeared in Hastings District Court on Saturday and was remanded in custody. He has interim name suppression and is due to reappear today.
Mr Te Aho said he had been told his son suffered blunt force trauma to his liver, which caused internal bleeding, leading to his death. He also had fractured ribs.
“It’s pretty hard to hear that. I’m just so sorry my son’s last moments in life were painful. I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt him so much.”
The dead boy – known as Jarius after Jarius Wharerau from Whangarei, a champion in the motorsport drifting – was Mr Te Aho’s only child.
Mr Te Aho said he had little to do with the boy’s mother, Jamie Te Whare, who had another son aged about two and was pregnant.
“When I looked in his eyes the first time, I’d never felt the love like that before … but he’s gone now. All we can do is remember him for what he was. He was the best man I ever knew, that fella.”
Mr Te Aho said he had considered taking fulltime care of his son, but believed it was best he live with his mother.
“I loved my mum and I didn’t want to take that away from my son. He would have loved his mother as much as I loved mine.”
Read more here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/4550467/Father-tells-of-baby-in-child-abuse-death-case
29 July 2010
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
29 October 2009
Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse Essential
‘How many more children have to die before we do something?’
Family First NZ is repeating its call for a Commission of Enquiry into the unacceptable levels of child abuse and deaths in NZ.
The call comes following the suspected child abuse death of Wanganui toddler Karl Perigo-Check Junior which is the 18th case since the passing of the anti-smacking law.
“We must take pro-active action and tackle head-on the difficult issues of family breakdown, drug and alcohol abuse, violence in our media, mental illness, low maternal age, and other key factors identified by UNICEF, CYF and Children’s Commissioner reports,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First.
“Over the past 30 years we have allowed a succession of policies to diminish the importance of family structure and marriage. We have watched as politicians have given adults the right to silence, bail and parole while the rights of children to be safe have been ignored. We have allowed children to be raised in homes with an unacceptable level of drug abuse, family dysfunction and physical and emotional harm. And we’ve allowed the media to fill our minds with increasing levels of sexual and violent images in the name of entertainment and freedom of speech.”
“The 88% of voters who oppose the anti-smacking law are not people who are demanding the right to ‘assault’ and ‘beat’ children. They are simply kiwis who are exasperated with the fact that politicians and supposed family welfare groups are more interested in targeting good parents than tackling these much tougher issues.”
“Since the passing of the anti-smacking law, there has been a continual stream of child abuse cases and the rate of child abuse deaths has continued at the same rate as before the new law with at least 18 deaths since the law was passed,” says Mr McCoskrie. “Sue Bradford was right when she said that her law was never intended to deal with the problem of child abuse.”
“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
17. 22 month old Hail-Sage McClutchie Morrinsville 27 Sep 2009
18. Karl Perigo-Check Junior Wanganui 25 Oct 2009
ENDS
For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:
Sign up now to received FREE email updates of issues affecting families – be informed! http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/Sign_Up
This is Child Abuse and this is what the Government and society needs to be bringing to an end:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2981151/Dead-babys-parents-bugged-by-police
By CLIO FRANCIS – The Dominion Post
A couple accused of starving and beating their 11-week-old baby were caught after police secretly recorded conversations between the pair discussing her death, a jury has been told.
Azees Mahomed, 31, originally from South Africa, subjected his daughter to a sustained period of “systematic neglect and violence” before she was killed, a jury in the High Court at Auckland was told yesterday.
Tahani Mahomed died in Auckland’s Starship children’s hospital on New Year’s Day, 2008. She was admitted to Middlemore Hospital four days earlier with severe head injuries.
Mahomed, 31, is charged with murdering Tahani. He also faces two charges of grievous bodily harm, which relate to allegedly breaking his daughter’s leg and injuring her head so severely that it caused brain damage, and one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life.
His wife, Tabbasum Mahomed, 26, faces one charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life.
Both parents deny all charges.
Crown prosecutor Phillip Hamlin, in his opening statement, said police were suspicious about the death and, three days later, on the day of Tahani’s funeral, they bugged the couple’s Otahuhu home. “You will hear the two of them discuss coaching their older daughter so she doesn’t make an incriminating statement against them,” he said.
One of the recorded conversations, which was in Hindi and translated into English, detailed Tabbasum Mahomed saying: “They will question Tasmia [the sister] about what happened to Tahani, who hit/killed Tahani.”
Her husband replies: “Daddy hit/kill, Daddy hit/kill, that’s what she’ll say.”
The court was told the Hindi word used is said to be the equivalent of either hit or kill in English.
The recordings also alluded to the couple’s neglect of the baby, the court was told.
Azees Mahomed was recorded as saying police had “one big proof against us” because they knew the couple had left the baby locked in a car in hot weather and on another occasion had not changed her nappy for an entire day.
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 alleges 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.
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”.
Tabbasum said the baby had been “alert and laughing” only a day earlier and was smiling in the car on the way to hospital.
However the Crown alleges the child’s first brain injury was so severe she would have been left unable to breathe properly, paralysed and blind.
Chris Wilkinson-Smith said his client, Azees Mahomed, was denying the “terrible accusation” he murdered his daughter.
“The simple answer is that he did not harm her.”
The Crown will call 50 witnesses for the trial which has been set down for three weeks.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2933240/Child-death-probe-upgraded-to-homicide
Stuff.co.nz
Police are treating the death of a Waikato toddler last month as a homicide.
Hail-Sage McClutchie, 22 months, died in Waikato Hospital on September 27 after being taken there by ambulance from Morrinsville the day before.
Acting Waikato crime services manager Inspector Russell Le Prou said expert medical advice indicated the young Hamilton girl – known as Sage – had suffered non-accidental injuries.
“As a result of this expert advice, our initial inquiry work and a post mortem examination, this inquiry is now a homicide investigation.”
Mr Le Prou said police were waiting for further forensic results before commenting on Sage’s cause of death.
Twelve detectives are working to establish how Sage suffered her injuries.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2817783/Northland-mother-charged-with-daughters-murder
By CLIO FRANCIS – Stuff.co.nz
A Northland mother has been charged with the murder of her two-year-old daughter.
The 32-year-old woman – who has name suppression – appeared before Judge Gittos at the Auckland District Court this morning.
The murder charge was laid by police at Kaitaia District Court.
The Kaitaia toddler was rushed to Starship Hospital earlier this month after she was found with serious injuries by family members.
She died the next day in hospital.
The woman stood crying throughout her brief appearance and was supported by a number of family members.
Her lawyer, Belinda Sellars, said her client had been co-operating with the police investigation.
After her last court appearance a family spokesman Maurice Waetford said the woman had “difficulty in her life… One good thing that I see that’s going to come out of this is that she’s going to get the specialist care that she needs.”
The woman had suffered from post-natal depression in the past, Mr Waetford said. She had two other children. They were taken into CYF care following the toddler’s death.
She was remanded in custody to appear at Kaitaia District Court on September 9.
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