Dad gets 12 years for killing daughter

A Waikato man found guilty of the manslaughter of his three-month-old daughter in 2005 has been jailed for 12 years.

In sentencing Joshua Woodcock in the High Court at Rotorua today, Justice Edwin Wylie said the then 19-year-old had committed the ultimate breach of trust by killing his own child, Sarah Haddock-Woodcock.

"You failed her in the worst possible way."

The infant died as a result of injuries inflicted on her at her Putaruru home, sometime in the week or fortnight leading up to March 12, 2005, the day she died.

Justice Wylie said the infant's injuries could have only been caused by considerable force. Although no weapon was involved much of the offending had been brutal.

Evidence had been given at Woodcock's trial that at least one of the injuries had probably been caused by a knee been pressed into the infant, and others by her head being banged against a hard surface.

An autopsy revealed multiple injuries including eight broken ribs, haemorrhaging, a tear to skin between her gum and lip, bruising to her jaw and chest. The skull fracture that killed her was four centimetres long.

Justice Wylie said the haemorrhage had been described as a "big bag of blood under her skin".

"These injuries tell a horrific tale of abuse.

"By failing to seek help you callously disregarded her suffering."

Sarah had been helpless and utterly defenceless and the sentence needed to denounce the community's abhorrence at such conduct.

"Regrettably, child abuse is all too common in this country."

He noted that before the injuries were inflicted, Woodcock had been a good father, taking over the primary care of two boys, one the son he had with Ms Haddock, the other her son by another man.

The infant's mother, Jaymie Haddock, was jailed for 2 1/2 years in 2007 for wilfully neglecting her. She was in court for her former partner's sentencing, weeping throughout most of it.

- NZPA