Daughter 'treated like a princess'

A Tauranga woman accused of ill-treating her adopted daughter says she considered the girl "God's gift" and the family treated her as their "little princess".

The adoptive mother denies four charges of cruelty to a child, one of assault on a child aged under 14, two of assault with a weapon and two of assault on a child with intent to injure.

In the Tauranga District Court yesterday, Judge Michael Hobbs withdrew a charge of cruelty to a child and another of assault on a child under the age of 14.

The accused's son, a 27-year-old Tauranga caregiver, has denied one charge of assault with intent to injure and two of assault with a weapon.

The woman's lawyer, Craig Horsley, and the son's lawyer, Bill Nabney, yesterday finished cross-examining the girl, now aged 14.

Mr Nabney told the girl that his client never kicked her or hit her with a broomstick. The girl maintained that he had.

The Crown then called a further nine witnesses to give evidence.

The first, the caregiver's girlfriend, said she lived at the house for about two months from December 1995.

She said she saw the mother strip the girl and force her into a bath of cold water.

Once in the bath, the woman allegedly held the girl's head under the water and banged her head on the bottom of the bath about 10 times.

When questioned by Mr Horsley, the witness said she did not like the accused and admitted that she had argued with her boyfriend that he always put his mother first.

The principal of the girl's former primary school and three teachers from her intermediate school also gave evidence.

The principal said he met the alleged victim's mother when he visited the home in February 2000.

He said there was trouble with the girl not giving her mother homework and school notices, but he was not aware of anything else.

The girl's first-year teacher at intermediate said the girl had come to school with bruising to her thighs and buttocks, which she alleged came from her mother hitting her.

The teacher photographed the bruises and they were kept by the school until police asked for them last June, after the girl had made a complaint.

Two other teachers gave evidence about the photographs.

Detective Jane Searle said she investigated the allegations from May last year.

She searched the girl's home, taking a broom and a wooden spoon as evidence.

The jury was played a videotape of the interview of the caregiver last June at Tauranga Police Station.

He denied hitting the girl in any way, and said the family had cared for her.

At the end of the Crown case, Mr Horsley called the girl's mother as the first witness for the defence.

She denied having put chilli powder in the girl's eyes, as alleged, or hitting her anywhere other than lightly with a wooden spoon on her buttocks.

The trial continues.

- NZPA