KEY POINTS:
Three of five people charged following the death of Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie have applied for manslaughter charges to be dropped.
Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, 19, and Michael Curtis' girlfriend Oriwa Kemp, 17, are charged with manslaughter and assault on a child. Nia's mother Lisa Kuka, 34, is charged with manslaughter by failing to provide medical treatment.
Kemp, Pearson, and Kuka will apply to have manslaughter charges withdrawn at a hearing in Rotorua on June 4.
Their appearances were excused when the case was called in the High Court at Rotorua today.
On June 3, also in Rotorua, the court will hear applications by four of the five - Kuka, Pearson and brothers Wiremu, 18, and Michael Curtis, 21, who are charged with Nia's murder and assaulting her - to have the trial heard out of Rotorua.
Kemp is not pursuing a change of venue.
Nia Glassie died of bleeding on the brain in Starship children's hospital in Auckland on August 3 last year. She had been in a coma since being admitted to Rotorua Hospital on July 21.
- NZPA
