A woman accused of murdering her baby boy by allowing him to drown in a bath has been found guilty of manslaughter.

The 29-year-old migrant, who has name suppression, was charged with murder for intentionally leaving her baby in a full bath for 15 minutes, to drown.

But after deliberating for about five hours, a jury in the High Court at Auckland delivered the lesser conviction of manslaughter.

Justice Tim Brewer remanded the woman on bail until September 28, when she will be sentenced.

Her lawyer John Anderson had said the death was an accident but should the jury find it was the result of gross negligence then it amounted to infanticide, not murder.

The baby and his sister, five, were taken into Child, Youth and Family (CYF) care after their mother left them unattended and it was decided she was not fit to look after them alone, as her husband was not allowed to see his family after he had assaulted the woman.

While in CYF care, the daughter was sexually abused by a 13-year-old boy living in the same foster home. The court was told that the woman, a victim of sexual abuse, became severely depressed upon learning this.

The baby died two days after being returned to his parents' care.

For the crown Christine Gordon, SC, argued the woman's depression did not stem from her son's birth, but from the distressing circumstances in her life.

These included financial and social problems arising from being a new migrant, an abusive relationship with her husband and her children being taken from her care by CYF.

Gordon said that the woman had deliberately left her baby to die in the bath because her life would be much easier with him gone.

She knew the risk she was taking by leaving him alone in the water, because she had seen him fall face first in a much smaller baby bath two weeks earlier.

"The way to deal with it was to let (your son) go and so you just let him slide away into the bath, didn't you?" Gordon had asked the woman.

She replied: "It's not true, I didn't intend for (my son) to drown. I thought that he would play with the fish (toys in the bath) and I thought he was strong enough."

The woman knew how to do CPR but did not attempt it nor did she call emergency services because she "thought it was too late." 

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/mother-guilty-baby-s-manslaughter-3727595





Comments (0)