Foster mum who smacked 'difficult' kids discharged without conviction

The woman convicted of hitting her two foster sons said she "did her best". Photo / 123RF

A woman who smacked her foster sons, one of whom was caught with a cigarette lighter at school, has been discharged without conviction by a judge who acknowledged the children were "extremely difficult".

The woman, who was granted permanent name suppression in the Wellington District Court, was discharged without conviction on two charges of assaulting a child.

She had been the caregiver of her two foster sons for four years before she was charged with hitting them.

She hit the first child, a 13-year-old boy referred to by Judge Stephen Harrop as PD to protect his identity, on the body in 2019.

The second child, a 12-year-old boy referred to as JD, was struck by the defendant around September 2019 when he was caught with a cigarette lighter at school.

Both boys were said to be "extremely difficult" by Judge Harrop who told the court they were diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD].

One was also diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder [FASD].

The case was referred to by Judge Harrop as "unusual" and had taken a while to come to a resolution because of Covid delays, and because the woman's co-accused had attempted to pursue the charges through to a trial.

Due to the two boys' disabilities, they would have required communication assistance if the case had made it to trial.

Judge Harrop commended the woman for not putting the children through such a process, and for fronting up to her offending.

Lawyer Geoffrey Fulton said his client had come from a difficult background herself. She too was an adopted child and understood the idea of wanting to belong.

"All she wants me to say is she did her best," Fulton said.

Fulton's application for a discharge without conviction was granted by Judge Harrop and Crown prosecutor Rushika De Silva said the prosecution was neutral toward the outcome.

De Silva said the defendant was at low risk of reoffending and the offending was because she was unable to cope "with two very high-needs children".

The Crown accepted that the consequences for a conviction, in this case, might outweigh the gravity of the offending.

The pre-sentence report recommended she be discharged without conviction, and her co-accused had already had his charges dropped.

Judge Harrop said the court did not condone violence toward children, but that the circumstances behind the offending were "extenuating".

He said everyone accepted the boys were very difficult to deal with, and the defendant had inadequate support from Oranga Tamariki under challenging circumstances.

The fact she pleaded guilty to the charges, despite her misgivings about the circumstances alleged, was "highly significant", Judge Harrop said.

"You were prepared to front up, acknowledge responsibility at least on a reasonable scale," he said. "What you did meant those boys didn't need to face a trial.

"You were willing to take on these boys when the easy option would have been not to bother. You didn't just take them on you cared for them for four years."