A homicide investigation has been launched after the death of a baby in Waikato this weekend.
Police detective inspector Graham Pitkethley said a 10-month-old boy was brought in an unconscious state to Te Kūiti Hospital on Saturday afternoon, where staff alerted police.
“Tragically, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, he was unable to be resuscitated,” Pitkethley said.
An initial examination showed the child suffered violent, blunt-force trauma.
“We believe these injuries were not accidental,” Pitkethley said. . .
If the injuries weren’t accidental someone caused them and was responsible for them and this baby is another tragic statistic:
. . . How many children are killed at the hands of those who care for them in New Zealand each year?
Tragically, on average, one child dies every five weeks at the hands of those who have responsibility for their care. Most of these children are under five years old, and the largest group of children killed are less than a year old.
Source: Doolan, M. (2004). Child death by homicide in New Zealand: An examination of incidence and child protection actions. Canterbury University.
How many children are admitted to Starship Hospital each month with serious head injuries?
On average there’s a child in Starship Hospital once a month with a serious head injury from child abuse that almost invariably has caused brain damage.
Every time it happens there are calls for action and in spite of that the abuse keeps happening.
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
8 comments:
And those involved have worked out that if they all point the finger at someone else, they all get off. Stick to the story, blame each other, hold the line for a few weeks. Then the next one hits the news and they are forgotten. The media moves on, we all move on. Until the next one. Rinse and repeat.
Sadly, it is probably a blessing for the child in the long run.
It’s cultural.
‘’Me Warrior!’
Someone give you a ‘smart look’?
Just smack him down.
Want your missus to cook a bro some eggs?
Just smack her down.
Want to stop your baby from crying?
Just smack the helpless little mite down.
If a baby is in a household and nobody is owning up as the culprit, every adult in the household should be tried and sentenced for manslaughter.
High time stats were compiled and published to establish if there is an ethnicity problem, as I suspect there is
A good bet would be the man in the house is not the father of the child.
It is wild animal instinct. Kill the offspring of your rival.
I would love some one to do the research to find out whether the mothers of murdered children then went on to have more children, possibly from the same father. Lily Bing and baby Ru and the twins for example?
Statistically predictable.
Probably about 30 years ago the Herald printed a cartoon of a similar case, with the family pointing outward at the rest of the community saying it was their fault, but not inwards to themselves.
I bet the whakapapa of the family involved is never proudly published.
The discouragment of conception of children unlikely to be wanted or appreciated should be a high prioty of our health system. But it will never be supported by Te Pati and those aligned, and would almost certainly be condemned by the Waitangi Tribunal.
Hey, it's just the Maori way. Get used to it.
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