Three children gave similar interviews about being hit with a hockey stick by their grandmother. Photo/123RF
Three children gave similar interviews about being hit with a hockey stick by their grandmother. Photo/123RF
WARNING: This story contains issues of family violence and may be upsetting.
A grandmother accused of hitting her grandchildren with a hockey stick and punching them in the face says caring for the youngsters became too much when she was told she could not give them back.
The three children were in the Northland woman’s care over a three-year period.
Now the grandmother, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the children, is on trial in the Whangārei District Court facing a range of assault charges.
The alleged offending came to light when one of the children disclosed to a teacher that abuse was happening in the home.
The alleged abuse included being hit with a hockey stick and punched in the face.
In their evidential interviews, the three children all gave similar evidence that their grandmother had hit them with either a wooden spoon, boil-up spoon, hockey stick, or with her hand.
One child said “I was expecting myself to faint” following an alleged serious assault on her by the grandmother.
When the accusations were disclosed, the children said they were threatened by other family members that because they “told on Nana”, they were going to be separated.
The children were not present in court to be cross-examined by the defence and the jury was advised to rely on the evidence of the evidential interview.
The trial is being heard before a jury and Judge Taryn Bayley.
The children went to live with their grandmother - whom they had never met - unexpectedly, after a conversation with police over the phone following issues with their fulltime parent.
In the evidential interview given by the woman, she said she had no choice, and after expressing she did not have the capacity to take on three children in a house that was already full, the children were ordered to live with her through Oranga Tamariki.
She said she contacted their mother, whom they had not seen in a number of years, and the younger woman said she would take them, but the grandmother claims she was told the children could not return to their mother.
“I had no choice. I didn’t want to take them... Oranga Tamariki came around and said I was not allowed to give them back.
“It was the situation we were living in... it got too much. I went to Kāinga Ora and Oranga Tamariki and said this wasn’t working. We were already overcrowded,”
“If they followed a process, this wouldn’t have happened,” she said in her interview.
The woman said when the children came to her they had a tendency to steal, something she believed they learned growing up.
“There are a few differences between hitting your kids, smacking your kids and bashing your kids... I disciplined them the best way I know. They can’t survive in society like that,” she said.
The woman admitted she would give them a slap if they were continuously caught doing the wrong thing, and one night lined them up after they allegedly had a stolen laptop in their possession.
“All three of them got a smack, with my hand. Gave them all a slap,” she said.
The trial is expected to last a week.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
