Deborah Coddington: If we're caringly nosey more children may live

James Whakaruru. Photo / Supplied

In the same week we've argued over whether the country can afford mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse, we've learned Benny Haerewa, the killer of Riri-Ote-Rangi Ruru (James) Whakaruru, is to be released from jail.

In September 1999, Justice Wild gave Haerewa a stiff 12 years, saying: "The blankly staring, disbelieving eyes of James, which you could not stand, are a more powerful statement than I can ever make as to your betrayal of the little boy's trust in, and dependence on, you as a caregiver."

Three years earlier, Haerewa had been sentenced to nine months for beating James but his girlfriend and James' mother, Te Rangi Whakaruru, took him back. James' lawyer, Dougal Matheson, who was concerned for the tot's safety, took out a protection order which was ignored by authorities.

Corrections, Probation, CYPS (as it was then) - none of these agencies checked on the family. Te Rangi twice sought medical help for James - for a lacerated penis and then for a split lip, but no alarm bells rang. Close whanau knew James was being kicked and hit but maintained it was none of their business.

As I wrote in North & South in 2000: "It was analogous to standing by and watching a pre-schooler walking into the path of an out-of-control Mack truck.

"Two years after Haerewa came out of jail for assaulting James, he beat him to death while James' mother wandered around the house and cooked dinner."

Mandatory reporting would have cost the taxpayers money, but would definitely have saved this little boy.

This week, coroner Gary Evans, conducting an inquest into Chris and Cru Kahui's deaths, said only 1 per cent of child abuse cases were reported by general practitioners.

We do need to proceed with caution on mandatory reporting, because many childhood bruises and cuts can look similar to non-accidental injuries. Fools rushing in where angels fear to tread, and tearing apart peaceful families, would not only be a tragedy, it would be criminal.

On the other hand, I believe the majority of our senior health professionals - and I stress the word senior - are experienced enough to recognise patterns and signs of abuse. Surely systems can be established whereby they can discuss their worries with colleagues prior to reporting abuse?

Peter Foley, Medical Association chairman, nailed it when he said nobody wanted to look back and say, "We should have reported our concerns earlier."

And I simply can't accept the response that mandatory reporting will stop abusers from seeking medical help. How many New Zealand families live in total isolation? We have to learn to be more caringly nosy, and if we see a child at school, kindy or even in the supermarket who's abused, we should have a quiet word with our family doctor, priest, local policeman or school principal.

But if we do introduce mandatory reporting, we need to take care we don't use it to shift the blame. A busy GP might miss a fracture or bruise, but if a baby is shaken to death by the mother, she is ultimately the killer.

Sometimes I despair if the softly, softly approach will make a difference. I re-read my James Whakaruru story this week, and it wasn't pretty. I rubbed people's noses in the grimness of details because I naively thought I could change the world, but child abuse in New Zealand is worse now.

James would have been 16 last June - for those not familiar with his sad case, he's the little boy who was punched and kicked to death over two days with a jug cord, vacuum cleaner pipe, hammer, drawer and pieces of wood.

I looked at the photos we published of James, taken after his death, of his body beaten to a pulp because he wouldn't call Haerewa "Daddy". I thought, perhaps we should hand it all over to the SPCA.

We should publish (unidentified) photos of abused children, like those they publish of tortured animals which are rescued.

They nurse them, find them happy homes and ban the owners from having animals for some years. That's what we could do with child abusers - ban them from owning children until they can prove they are fit to be parents.