2 years jail for ignoring daughter's broken leg

SENTENCED: Terri Pickering awaits sentencing in Wellington District Court yesterday.PHOTO/MARK MITCHELL 121113PICKERING1

A Wairarapa woman who took days to seek help for her 3-year-old daughter's broken leg has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison.

Terri Cheire Pickering, 25, was charged with neglect after doctors found her daughter's leg was so badly broken that bones could be seen through the wound.

The girl was believed to have had the injury for up to a week before she was taken to Wairarapa Hospital in November last year. She was transferred to Hutt Hospital for emergency treatment.

Pickering - a former Featherston resident who now lives in Upper Hutt - was sentenced by Judge Denys Barry in Wellington District Court yesterday.

Pickering's lawyer, Jonathon Miller, had argued for name suppression to protect the identity of her daughter, who he said could suffer undue hardship, including teasing at school. But the Crown argued the charges were already widely known, according to the girl's father who now cares for her.

Judge Barry said he could see nothing that would cause undue hardship to the girl, now aged 4, and he allowed Pickering's name to be published.

During his sentencing summary, Judge Barry said a report from an orthopaedic surgeon overseeing the girl's treatment stated she would have a "lifelong disability" from the injury.

The report also said the child would need antibiotics for at least 12 months and a more recent report from September also noted an open wound resulting from the November 2012 injury continued to be problematic.

Judge Barry said a disorder of the nervous system the girl suffers from, which affects her ability to feel pain, could only have been a "superficial" factor in her mother and partner not noticing the injury.
- APNZ