Judge calls for tougher stance from colleagues

By ELEANOR BLACK

An Appeal Court judge has roundly criticised his colleagues for sending a "muted message" when sentencing the woman who beat her five-year-old son to death with a fanbelt.

Justice Ted Thomas has written a dissenting opinion on the seven-year prison sentence handed down to Sipea Leuta, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and won sympathy from the Judiciary for mitigating factors, including her own violent upbringing.

The Samoan woman struck Liotta Leuta with a 1m-long piece of rubber from a fanbelt at least 60 times because he refused to eat his dinner. The small boy went into shock and died about eight hours later when he choked on his own vomit.

His mother was sentenced to six years imprisonment when she appeared in the High Court at Auckland in March and the Solicitor-General appealed.

Four Appeal Court judges agreed to increase her jail term by one year, but Justice Thomas, the only dissenting voice among them, said a sentence ranging from eight to 10 years was more appropriate. It would send an "unequivocal message" that physical violence against children would meet severe punishment.

Public outrage at the high level of physical violence against children was not reflected in the sentencing structure used to punish those responsible, he said. People would lose confidence in the Judiciary if sentences did not meet general acceptance.

Justice Thomas was particularly disturbed by the deliberation required to carry out the beating.

Leuta went to the garage, took the broken fan belt and a car aerial from the wall, cut or ripped the fan belt in two, returned to the house and carried her son into his bedroom. She first beat him with the aerial but found it too stiff and switched to the fan belt.

"The beating was far removed from an impulsive act or momentary loss of temper ... Mrs Leuta undoubtedly intended the serious physical violence that led to her son's death," wrote Justice Thomas. Her sentence should reflect the seriousness of taking a child's life and act as a deterrent.