KEY POINTS:
Lisa Kuka told police she thought her daughter Nia Glassie was asleep when the 3-year-old could not be woken during more than a day in bed.
Kuka is on trial for Nia's manslaughter and doctors have testified that Nia could not be woken because she was in a
coma.
On the Sunday Nia was admitted to hospital, Kuka told police she had been unable to wake her daughter the previous morning. In a statement, she said one of Nia's eyes had been partially open and Nia was floppy, but had squeezed her finger.
"I had some doubts yesterday about her condition but because she squeezed my finger, I thought she was asleep," she said in the statement.
Kuka said Nia had been asleep when she got home from work on the Friday and had wet the bed during the night "which was not normal".
Kuka had then given Nia a bath, and told police: "That's when my concern started because she would not wake up."
Later, she said she had suspicions child abuse was happening in her home, but had never seen any physical injuries.
Oriwa Kemp, who is also charged with Nia's manslaughter, told police Kuka did not want to take Nia to hospital because doctors would know that Nia had been abused and Kuka wanted to protect her boyfriend, Wiremu Curtis.
He and his brother Michael are charged with Nia's murder.
Kemp initially denied seeing Nia being assaulted, but later told police she saw Wiremu putting her head and feet in a fire, spinning her on a clothesline while Nia was "f***ing screaming, scared", and slamming the 3-year-old's head into wood.
She said Nia whimpered, not screamed, when Wiremu dangled her over a balcony and dropped her "because she thinks if she screams something else will happen to her".
Kemp's and Kuka's statements were read to the High Court at Rotorua yesterday, and the jury also watched a video statement by the third person accused of Nia's manslaughter, Michael Pearson.
Pearson's statement was rambling and incoherent at times, but he admitted closing the door to a tumble dryer after Wiremu placed Nia inside.
He said Wiremu had first put Nia in a drawer in a TV cabinet, and later the fireplace at the Frank St house the group shared.
On one occasion when Nia wet her pants, Pearson said Wiremu grabbed her and threw her in bushes. He also alleged Wiremu shoved Nia into a shed with rubbish, and slammed her so hard into a couch, her head cracked the seat.
All the accused except Kuka have claimed they tried to stop the others in the house abusing Nia.
