KEY POINTS:
The family of the 18-month-old boy recovering in the Starship from several broken bones say the toddler's sister caused the injuries.
The boy, who has had seven broken bones in his short life, has been in the Starship since July 23 with injuries that doctors say occurred up to a month before medical treatment was sought. Police say he would have been in excruciating pain, suffering from a broken arm and a broken thigh that was badly swollen by the time he was taken to hospital.
A 27-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman, have been charged with ill-treating the boy and are due to appear in Waitakere District Court tomorrow.
Yesterday, neighbours told the Herald that the boy's mother told them his injuries were caused by his older sister when she fell on him.
Another neighbour said she had seen the older siblings playing rough with him and had been told the same story about how the injuries occurred.
All four children from the house in the Waitakere City suburb of Ranui have been taken into Child, Youth and Family care after a police investigation into what happened.
The children's parents were not home when the Herald visited yesterday but residents in the street said the couple often fought.
Police had frequently been called there in the past few years.
"Since they shift here they fight, fight, fight," said one woman. "All the people in the neighbourhood, we want them to go, not live here any more.
"We are sick of them fighting and crying all the time. It's better to take the kids away from them."
The parents regained custody of their children only in December. All four had been removed the previous March after the boy was first taken to hospital. At that stage he was in the custody of an aunt, who was charged with cruelty and neglect for failing to get treatment for him, and an uncle.
CYF has since been monitoring the children. In July a social worker met the parents but the boy was not present. Shortly afterwards he was taken to hospital.
