Battered toddler injured for life

A 2-year-old toddler was so badly brain-damaged by her grandmother's abuse that she may have to be tube-fed for the rest of her life.

Details of the case were released for the first time yesterday by crown prosecutors in Whangarei, three weeks after Patricia Billy Bissett, aged 52, tearfully pleaded guilty to abusing the toddler over two months.

In a letter to her husband, handed to police, she wrote: "I have done the worst possible thing that anyone can do to an innocent child."

Bissett will be sentenced in the High Court at Whangarei on December 1 on charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, failing to provide the necessities of life, and cruelty to a child.

Bissett was charged after the toddler was rushed to Whangarei Hospital on July 29, comatose from blows to her head and body.

She was transferred to the intensive care unit at the Auckland Starship hospital and put on life support. She was discharged on September 18 to the care of Child, Youth and Family Services.

Doctors described her head injuries and brain damage as being similar to those resulting from a serious car crash.

The summary of facts agreed to by crown prosecutors and defence counsel Ken Bailey said the girl's future could be bleak.

"It may be that she has to live the rest of her life being fed through a tube and lying in a bed, but it will be some time before the victim's future is known."

Bissett gained custody of the toddler in early May and began assaulting her within days. She inflicted numerous cigarette burns to force her to eat and poked her with enough force to leave bruises to her face, chest and abdomen. The girl suffered a broken arm, which was untreated for two weeks and is now deformed. When she was taken to hospital she was iron-deficient and suffering stress.

On July 29, the toddler could not keep her food down and began vomiting. She was put to bed on two couch squabs on the floor of her room and was sick again.

She was beaten again, losing consciousness. An ambulance was called after the girl could not be revived.

Herald Online feature: Violence at home

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