Family tried prayer to heal son, court told

A man accused of manslaughter believed prayer could heal his sick son, a jury was told yesterday.

Under cross-examination, David Tribble said he had seen his father heal broken bones with prayer and he and his father prayed for his four-month-old son Caleb four days before his death.

Caleb died of blood poisoning on December 5, 2003 as a result of a urinary tract infection caused by a reflux condition.

David and Catherine Tribble deny his manslaughter and failing to provide him with the necessaries, endangering his life.

At the High Court in Whangarei yesterday, David Tribble said he had been on the brink of taking the sick child to hospital on December 1 2003.

The previous night he had noticed Caleb's eyes rolling back into his head and that he didn't want to bend his limbs.

He and his father -- both devout Christians -- prayed for Caleb in an attempt to heal him through the strength of belief.

He believed his father had removed a spirit of death from Caleb and that his son's condition would improve.

The child's vomiting and diarrhoea continued but Tribble rejected a claim that he had not been looking for signs of his son's illness because it was a sin not to have ultimate faith in prayer.

"I don't believe in my father's healing prayer, I believe in the sovereign God," he said.

He was aware that Caleb had lost weight, but had been told by his wife that Caleb would regain weight with regular breast-feeding.

Tribble said he had never excluded doctors from treating his children but acknowledged they were not taken to the doctor often.

He also believed that doctors could curse people by misdiagnosing them with an illness.

The Crown alleges the Tribbles failed in their lawful duty to get medical treatment for Caleb as he became increasingly sick in the days leading to his death.

The defence says the Tribbles thought Caleb had flu and would have taken him to a doctor if they had known or were told he was so ill.

The trial continues.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)