Editorial: Make an example of abuser

A man admitted to abusing his 5 week old baby at the Napier District Court.

Who would not be shocked by the terrible crimes that Waipukurau man Devon Ashley Bird, 21, admitted last week?

Bird pleaded guilty in the Napier District Court to ill-treating a child and causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard.

But the charges do not graphically describe the nature of what he did. We ran the story on the front page of Saturday's paper.

Bird hurt and abused his 5-week-old baby boy and the court found that the abuse had been carrying on for most of the little baby's life. The boy had 20 fractures, injury to his skull and brain and a lacerated spleen. Bird claimed that he had not deliberately caused the injuries and he had been very tired since the boy's birth.

The day the baby was eventually rushed to hospital began when Bird's partner asked him at 6.30am to look after the boy after she had spent the night caring for him.

Bird, who was an avid computer gamer, admitted abusing his son and leaving him in a "critical condition" while playing a violent video game, The Walking Dead.

Since we carried the story on Saturday, gamers have taken to social media saying the video game was not the cause of the abuse and that was simple an excuse for Bird.

That may be so, but obviously Bird was able to make the move from playing these violent games to abusing the baby with relative ease.

It all points to an immature narcissist who was not man enough to care for his child like normal fathers do.

Bird has been remanded on bail, but will be back in court on December 19 to be sentenced.

Let's hope an example is made of him as irresponsible and selfish young parents like him need to learn that children need love and not abuse.