Couple on child abuse charges

A 37-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman appeared in the High Court at Auckland today charged with a raft of abuse charges involving their eight children.

The pair, who have name suppression, are jointly charged with three counts of assault on a child, eight charges of cruelty to a child and one charge of intentional damage of a Housing New Zealand home in Manurewa.

The man is also charged with sexual conduct with his 13-year-old daughter and injuring her with intent by inflicting repeated blows with a broom. He is also charged with two counts of assault on a child. He has pleaded guilty to one of those charges.

The cruelty charges to the eight different children include willfully ill-treating them in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering, physical and mental abuse, generating a climate of fear, providing unsuitable housing, causing and maintaining poor hygiene and allowing them to go hungry.

The pair have pleaded not guilty to all remaining charges.

A jury of eight men and four women was sworn in today for the trial, which is expected to last two weeks.

- NZPA