An Auckland woman who admitted causing the death of her infant son has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
The woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Auckland High Court in May.
She had previously been charged with murder but the prosecution amended the charge.
She also pleaded guilty to two representative counts of assault on a child – one count for assaulting her four-week-old son before his death and one count of assaulting her other son, who was two years old at the time.
“A charge may be representative if multiple offences of the same type are alleged to have been committed in similar circumstances,” the Ministry of Justice website explained.
The woman was in tears as she arrived in the High Court dock today. She silently cried throughout.
Her father sat in the public area — to support his daughter, the woman’s lawyer Ian Brookie said.
Justice Geoffrey Venning sentenced the woman to three years and six months imprisonment on the manslaughter charge and nine months for each assault charge — to be served concurrently, meaning an effective sentence of three-and-a-half years.
The arguments
During today’s hearing, Brookie argued the woman’s “extreme physical and emotional deprivation” during her childhood in an “unsafe and chaotic environment” should be considered both to reduce her culpability (which could lower the starting point for her sentence) and a personal mitigating factor (which could lead to a discount on that starting point).
He referred to a psychological report that found the woman had clinical issues including reactive attachment disorder.
Crown lawyer Robin McCoubrey said it should only be considered personal mitigation, and not something that reduced her culpability.
Justice Venning agreed with McCoubrey: “You can’t have it both ways.”
Citing similar previous cases, Justice Venning set a starting point of six years three months for manslaughter, uplifted by nine months for each of the assaults. He emphasised her failure to obtain treatment for the dead child “when it must have been obvious he needed it”.
Aggravating features also included her “extreme” violence causing serious injuries and death, the children’s defencelessness and vulnerability, and her breach of their trust.
“It goes without saying, children are our most vulnerable members of society.”
He noted the mitigating factors of her guilty plea and her personal circumstances, describe the woman’s upbringing as “tragic”.
“The tragedy is ongoing.”
He ordered the permanent suppression of the woman’s name and the names of both children.
What happened?
After the woman’s plea in May, the court summary of facts for the case was released to media.
The woman was 20 at the time of the baby’s death at Starship Hospital in January 2022.
She was the sole caregiver for her two children. “Her only source of income was the benefit,” the summary said.
The summary explained that the mother would “smack” her older son on “a number of occasions” before the second boy’s birth.
It also said the mother hit her older son on the day she was discharged from hospital after her younger son’s birth.
Two weeks after she was discharged, in December 2021, she texted the second child’s father. The mother said she was “really struggling with the kids right now” and “can’t do this s**t on my own anymore”. She said she was “f*****g struggling mentally”.
In early January 2022, she sent the father “a number of text messages… in which she threatened to harm her children”, the summary said, including one that said: “It’s not gonna be pretty if I let my anger out inside the apartment around or towards the kids.”
At post-mortem, the younger son was found to have healing clavicle and rib fractures, caused by incidents before his death.
The child’s death
On January 14 that year, the fatal incident occurred.
“At some point prior to 9pm, [the mother] became frustrated with [the younger son] and momentarily lost control,” the summary said.
“She shook [the boy] forcefully, causing severe brain injuries that were a substantial and operative cause of his death.”
The mother left seven missed calls on the father’s phone. Eventually, they spoke on the phone. She asked him to buy paracetamol.
At 3.46am the next day, she called Healthline “but hung up before talking to anyone”.
“[The mother] did not call emergency services at any time,” the summary noted.
At about 7.18am, the mother tried Healthline again and was on hold for 42 seconds before terminating the call.
She then asked the father for a ride to the hospital – but he refused, saying he had to work.
The mother then took the bus to Starship Hospital with both of her sons. When they arrived, the younger son was having seizures.
“There was bleeding around the brain, severe retinal haemorrhages and a retinal tear.
“These injuries were the result of [the mother’s] actions,” the summary said.
The boy was pronounced dead on January 16. He was a little under five weeks old.