Broken arm left untreated, court told

A boy at primary school told a teacher aide he had broken his arm by trying to write with his left hand during a mathematics examination.

The Crown alleges that his female caregiver left the boy's broken arm untreated for three days.

After three months in foster care, the boy said he and his brother were beaten by the woman, who used various household objects, the Christchurch Court News website reported.

The woman went on trial before Judge Raoul Neave and a jury in Christchurch District Court today on 15 charges.

Motuloto Tovio, a 46-year-old fisheries worker, said the assaults never happened.

She has denied charges of assault, assault with a weapon, and willful ill-treatment or neglect of a child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering.

Most of the assaults were representative counts , alleging the offences each occurred more than once between September 2005 and February 2008.

The brothers were aged nine and ten at the time.

Crown prosecutor Lisa Preston said the assaults were simply as a result of the woman losing her temper on many occasions.

A teacher aide noticed that on hot days, the boys were reluctant to remove their clothing, while others were in their shirt sleeves.

In February 2008, she noticed a lump on one boy's arm and asked about it. The boy said his left arm had become sore when he used it to do some extra writing, after his right arm became sore during a mathematics examination.

The explanation was transparently not true, Mrs Preston said.

Tovio was advised to take him to the doctor, and he was sent on to the hospital where his left arm was found to be broken into numerous bits above the elbow.

The boys were taken into the care of Child, Youth, and Family and several months later, and during evidential interviews that were recorded on video tape and were to be played in court, they made allegations of the repeated assaults by the woman.

The trial was expected to last three or four days.

- NZPA