"Each night Ngatikaura Ngati would climb into bed and tell his adoptive mum Kura and dad Finau that he loved them before clasping his little hands in prayer."
This is the life that this little boy knew and grew to love in his short three years. His birth mother, fearing some benefit fraud by claiming for children not in her care, returned to collect the little man and within nine short weeks, he was dead.
The link below gives graphic details of the systematic abuse he suffered whilst in his birth mother's care - most of which would have been visual to anyone who saw him and yet, no one said a thing. Ngatikaura was brought up speaking Tongan so to be dragged from the only home he knew and plonked into an over-crowded house where he didn't even have a bed and they spoke only vile English, would have been such a cultural shock. No wonder the little man wet himself and for which he received brutal beatings with a softball bat.
The parents (for want of a better word) claim they "didn't mean to do it," but I fail to understand how someone could consistently beat a child with a bat and not think it would cause any harm. Their defence team are highlighting the fact that, whilst he may have been beaten him with a "stick," no one touched his head. Maybe that's because the head is the most visual part of a small body - bruises and swollen limbs can be hidden amongst floppy clothing.
We in New Zealand were incredulous to the new Bill that made it illegal for parents to physically discipline their children and we were aghast when a father was hauled before the Courts cause he clipped his kid's ear after running out onto the road, but here is a clear example of why such a Law was ever passed - some parents just don't get it.
My next question is why on earth these parents weren't charged with murder and instead, copped a lesser charge of manslaughter. What does it take to murder someone these days? I can bet my bottom dollar that if I went out into the street and clobbered someone with a softball bat (not around the head- mind) and that person later died, I would be definitely face a murder charge!
The mind boggles at our judicial system.
I do think a clip around the ear is somewhat different from torture, which this case clearly is.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do think parents do get it..... they just choose to ignore the law because children are here to serve their needs rather than the other way around. The law has made little difference to the stats. Probably because abuse is a little more complex than just changing a law.
What gets me is the family's who know (or suspect) it is going on and who make a decision to protect these scum. They need to start charging the extended family and friends. Then maybe community's will take ownership of the issue instead of putting their 'heads in the sand'.
I thnk its a technicality - he died from heart failure it said, probably according to the post mortem. He may have had a congenital weaknesss or something Techniclaity or not in my mind it was murder.
ReplyDeleteWhat I can't understand is why when whangai adoption is recognised in property law and other sorts of laws like that as a valid cultural form of adoption for Maori that it wasn't recognised for the whangai parents when they were Pacific Island. Thas just DUMB given what we hear of the family circumstances at the time the judge granted custody to the birth mother. That Judge should be made to be publically accountable for that decision - PUBLICALLY accountable I mean. - Stood down without pay until a pubic enquiry is completed and then most likely have to face a more discreet employment challenge most likely resulting in the Judge loosing his/her job -- It was sucha DUMB thing to do - they should be accountable but I bet it doens;t happen
I agree. This head in the sand thing has to end. If you suspect abuse, report it. No matter what. Bring some kind of torture to death penalty for crimes like these.
ReplyDeleteI am totally annoyed at the fact that if this child were an adult, the consequences for the people who hurt him would be more severe. What does that say about children and how they are viewed in this country?
These people should never be allowed in society. Ever. These people should be eradicated.
ReplyDeleteAnd why are the children suffering so much? Because not enough people stand up for them. Why? these so called parents get away with so little when the evidence is clearer than a new pane of glass.
Someone joked to me once that people should have a pane of glass in their belly buttons. That way if they have their heads up their arses they could see sort of what is going on. I think there are so many people, especially in cases like this that could do with one of those each. What do you think?
Re comment:
ReplyDelete"What gets me is the family's who know (or suspect) it is going on and who make a decision to protect these scum. They need to start charging the extended family and friends."
I could not agree more! I guess it's a hard one to charge though. Having said that, I remember poor wee Nia Glassie. So many neighbours and relatives SAW what went on and did nothing.
If I remember rightly, there was suppose to be some Law change as a result of that. I am not sure that it's happened - probably now!
I am also reminded of the recent child abuse case where the victim returned to Court to have the name suppression law changed so she could, in fact, tell HER story. At the time, she was also pressing charges against her mother who, she claims, witnessed what went on and did nothing. Again, not sure of the update on that one but I do know it's a new concept in law.
Re Comment:
ReplyDelete"What I can't understand is why when whangai adoption is recognised in property law and other sorts of laws like that as a valid cultural form of adoption for Maori that it wasn't recognised for the whangai parents when they were Pacific Island."
I am not sure that a Law passed via Maori culture is an automatic assumption for all and any Pacific Island. I don't think we can enforce it on another culture.
Having said that, if the Pacific Island family were resident in NZ, getting NZ tax paying benefits, and are now being charged under NZ Law, then... yes, they should recognise whangai adoption.
What gets me though, is even if this were the case, why the Judge overturned any rights those initial adopting parents had - are we just paying lip service to whangai adoption?
You have raised a very valid point.