Child-bashing mother found guilty

Itupa Julie Mikaio has been found guilty of wounding with intent to injure, but not guilty on a more serious charge.

A woman accused of inflicting head injuries which nearly caused the death of her four-year-old son has been found guilty of wounding with intent to injure.

Itupa Julie Mikaio, 40, of Blockhouse Bay, Auckland, was also found guilty of neglecting to provide the necessaries of life to the boy.

She was found not guilty of the more serious charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, after a jury in the High Court at Auckland deliberated for just over two hours today.

She was remanded in custody for sentence in the High Court on November 27.

Mikaio was charged after her son Benjamin Mikaio was taken to Starship Hospital unconscious on June 30 last year with head injuries that could have been fatal.

She had admitted a charge of injuring with intent, causing injuries to his body by striking him with a shoe, but during the trial denied she cause the head injury and said her actions after Benjamin became injured were appropriate for what she understood.

- NZPA