KEY POINTS:
An 11-week-old baby was so malnourished she had hardly put on any weight since birth and had serious brain injuries and fractures that were probably caused by being slammed against a hard surface, the Manukau District Court heard yesterday.
Tahani Mahomed died on January 1, four days after her parents took her to Middlemore Hospital. The parents - Azees Mahomed and Tabbasum Mahomed - are facing serious charges at a depositions hearing that resumed yesterday.
Both face charges of wilful neglect of Tahani while Mr Mahomed faces the additional charge of murdering her.
They deny the charges.
The couple came to New Zealand from South Africa a year earlier. Another daughter is in the care of Child Youth and Family.
They took Tahani to Middlemore Hospital on December 28, 2007, after speaking to a parenting healthline when they noticed she wasn't waking for feeds and wasn't hungry.
Tahani was transferred to Starship hospital but died on New Year's Day.
Crown prosecutor Phil Hamlin said during her short life Tahani suffered a number of significant injuries, the last injury being the one that killed her.
Dr Jane Zuccollo performed the autopsy on Tahani and told the court she suffered numerous fractures as well as brain and eye injuries.
Dr Zuccollo said the skull fracture was likely to have been caused by a high impact to the back of the head against a hard surface.
Bruising to the back of the head and neck could have been caused at the same time, she said. The incident where Tahani was probably slammed against a hard surface would have knocked her unconscious.
"It's likely the infant would have been rendered unconscious. When she woke she wouldn't have wanted regular feeds."
Dr Zuccollo said some of the injuries were probably caused by a "whiplash" motion. The injuries were a mixture of old and very recent, with some being inflicted within a week before death.
A "shake impact" was the likely cause of eye injuries.
Doctors found no reason for the baby gaining little weight since she was brought home from the hospital.
"This infant had gained very little weight since birth ... no disease was detected [to explain why]. There was also widespread evidence of non-accidental injuries," she said.
Chris Wilkinson Smith, representing Tahani's father Azees, asked about the timing of the bruises, and fracture, on the back of Tahani's head and neck.
Dr Zuccollo said the bruises were "most probably" caused less than five days before death.
The fracture was more difficult to date, but Dr Zuccollo thought it was related to the bruising.
However, under cross-examination, she said it was difficult to pinpoint a reliable time frame without knowing Tahani's clinical history.
Mrs Mahomed's lawyer, Paul Borich, asked her whether she was happy to exclude the fatal injury happening outside six to three days before death. Dr Zuccollo said she was.
She said with a skull fracture of that magnitude symptoms would have started almost immediately. The baby would have slipped in and out of consciousness, had laboured breathing and may have had a high-pitched cry. It was possible she would have responded to stimuli but this would have been greatly reduced, she said.
The hearing will resume on December 15.
