Baby Elijah murder trial: Rotorua mother says demons told her to sacrifice her son

The Rotorua Courthouse. Photo / Andrew Warner

Warning: This article contains distressing content

Melody Ngawhika told police she was watching Blippi on television with her children when suddenly she saw demons and did the “unthinkable” to her son.

The Rotorua mother, 27, heard voices saying she was part of a prophesy and her son, Elijah, 6 months, was to be sacrificed.

She took her son against her shoulder and suffocated him.

Now Ngawhika is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua charged with her baby’s murder.

The Crown says Ngawhika killed him at her Rimu St house at some stage overnight on August 28, 2021 - when New Zealand was in level 3 lockdown.

Ngawhika’s defence is that Elijah was not murdered but it was instead a case of infanticide - the crime of a mother killing her child within a year of birth. It is an older charge seldom used in New Zealand courts today and carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.

The legal test for an infanticide conviction is whether or not the “balance of [the defendant’s] mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth”, the Crimes Act states.

Ngawhika’s lawyer, Fraser Woods, said Ngawhika’s mind was disturbed as a consequence of childbirth.

The trial is before Justice Pheroze Jagose.

A police interview between Ngawhika and retired Detective Jeff Alpe was played to the jury today.

Ngawhika said she remembered looking at the television and was “freaking out” that demons were on it.

“All I remember hearing was it was part of a prophesy. I remember being called a Jezebel in my head.”

She said during the interview she couldn’t understand how she did it.

“I had crazy ar** thoughts going through my head.”

“This is the first time that has happened. I don’t do that to kids. I don’t kill kids but I did that to my own son.”

When Alpe asked her what she did to her son, she said: “I suffocated him. I literally pushed him into my shoulder.”

She said she remembered telling her daughter to go to her uncle, who lived with them, and was in a bedroom at the time because she “couldn’t be trusted”.

She said her brother didn’t know what had happened.

“I had done the unthinkable to my son. I couldn’t explain why I had done it or how I did it. It’s just crazy.”

Ngawhika said during the interview her baby was a good boy and she believed she was a good mum.

“I don’t know why I did that to him.”

She said she started having mental health issues when she was on a journey with her father.

“He was a religious man but now he is tainted because of me.”

She said she had discussed her issues with a Tipu Ora worker and earlier in her life had suffered mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder and agrophobia.

The “crazy” thoughts started re-entering her mind after she started learning about tarot card readings, she said in the interview.

“I didn’t realise that praising Jesus’ name at the same time as studying tarot was dark magic.”

When asked about Elijah’s mark on his neck, she said she tried to “slice” him because she could see a demon. She couldn’t recall if it was with a knife or with her nails. She also couldn’t recall if she punched her son.

She told police once he had died, she wrapped Elijah in blankets and put him on top of a duffle bag because she was going to “dispose of him”.

She then rang her children’s father, who lives in Taranaki, and told him what she had done before calling police.

As the video was played to the jury, Ngawhika sobbed heavily as she sat in the dock with a support person beside her.

Earlier, the jury was played a recording of the 111 call Ngawhika made to police. She told the call taker “I killed my son” and she was seeing things.

When asked where her son was, she replied he was lying on the bed.

Police officers who were first at the scene, Constables Shona Bronze and David Massey, gave evidence.

Bronze said Ngawhika answered the door and said: “Arrest me, I have done it, I have done it. I have suffocated my baby.”

Bronze said she said something like “the voices made me do it”.

She described Ngawhika as hysterical, crying and wailing.

Massey said he recalled Ngawhika saying something like she had “strangled” the baby and the voices made her do it.

Massey described Ngawhika as being “disoriented”. He said her speech was slow, she appeared vacant and made no eye contact.

“She seemed aloof in her whole demeanour.”

Massey started CPR, despite being sure the baby was already dead.

Detective Constable Gurvinder Singh said the house appeared like a normal family’s house that had children. He said there was a well-stocked nappy changing station and enough food in the house for children and adults.

He said police found cannabis in a bathroom cupboard and in Ngawhika’s bedroom on the tallboy and inside a robe.

Singh told Woods there was no evidence in the house of methamphetamine.

Melody Ngawhika’s brother, Te Hiko Ngawhika, told the jury he had a close relationship with his sister and had moved from Auckland to Rotorua to live with her and her children.

He said his sister was “the best you could ask for” and was a mother who had a “happy and chirpy” vibe. But that changed in the days leading up to Elijah’s death and she was quiet and not her usual self.

He told Woods he had never seen his sister use methamphetamine nor seen instruments around the house used for smoking it.

He himself had never used methamphetamine.

Justice Jagose excused one of the jurors this morning over concerns over being a close contact with someone with Covid-19.

If you have concerns about the immediate safety of a child, call 111. Alternatively, call the police non-emergency reporting line on 105. Or, contact Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children on 0508 326 459 for advice or click here to visit the agency’s website for more information.

Where to get help:

• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)

• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO (available 24/7)

• Youth services: (06) 3555 906

• Youthline: 0800 376 633

• What’s Up: 0800 942 8787 (11am to11pm)

• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)

• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155

• Helpline: 1737

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111