KEY POINTS:
The family of a 10-week-old baby boy critically injured last weekend is outraged his alleged attacker was granted bail when he appeared in court yesterday.
There were angry scenes at Lower Hutt District Court when the the baby's 28-year-old father entered no plea to the charge of assault and was remanded on bail and granted name suppression until his next court appearance on February 9.
The decision was greeted with anger by a large contingent of the baby's mother's family in the public gallery, the Dominion Post reported.
One relative yelled out, "at the police station" when the accused was told he had to live at an address set by police.
Police did not oppose bail on condition that the accused did not contact the baby and that he lived at the approved address.
"The baby's in hospital, for God's sake. He should be in the cells," the boy's great-grandmother said afterwards.
The boy was transferred to Starship children's hospital in Auckland on Tuesday after three days in Wellington Hospital's intensive care unit with a head injury and extensive bruising. He remains in a critical condition.
Police were alerted by hospital staff after his parents called an ambulance to their Taita home on Sunday morning.
The great-grandmother said the boy had significant bruising around his head, with a large bruise the size of the "bottom of a glass" over one temple and fingerprint-size bruises in the middle of his forehead,
She last saw the baby two days before the injuries occurred.
"I saw him on the Thursday...he had no bruising whatsoever."
The family said there still appeared to be confusion about what had occurred, with the father and the mother telling them conflicting stories about what happened that night.
"Someone is lying, there are all these conflicting stories," the great-grandmother said.
Detective Sergeant Scott Cooper of Lower Hutt said the investigation was continuing.
- NZPA
