Judge considering allegations of years of assaults by stepmother

Crown has alleged years of beatings of two boys, but defence says the beatings never happened. Photo / NZME

Years of bloody beatings with a metal spatula and wooden spoon never happened, said the defence in its closing address at a trial alleging assaults on two boys by their stepmother.

Defence counsel Craig Ruane said it would be extraordinary if the regular beatings had taken place over about six years, but the injuries and the blood on the clothing had never been noticed.

The stepmother, aged 33, denies 12 charges of assaulting the boys with a weapon, a charge of assaulting her ex-husband with a weapon, and a charge of assaulting a member of her family.

Christchurch District Court Justice Tom Gilbert reserved his decision at the end of the three-day judge-alone trial, and plans to give his findings on Friday.

The accusations of beatings on the boys' buttocks until they caused bleeding emerged after the couple separated in April 2020.

The marriage effectively ended with a dispute over an evening meal, when the woman is alleged to have knocked a dinner plate out of her husband's hands. His face was injured. One of the teenage boys told the court that the woman had also attacked him with a steak knife, but the knife was not mentioned when the man spoke to a police officer soon after.

The boys said the beatings began when the boys were aged 6 and 4, and went on regularly for about six years.

Crown prosecutor Courtney Martyn said both boys had been "impressive witnesses". One of them said it was not a way of getting back at their stepmother after the separation. They had not reported the violence to their father earlier because they said they were scared and intimidated by the woman.

Ruane said that given the scale of the offending and the length of time involved, and its weekly frequency, it seemed extraordinary that nobody had noticed the bleeding injuries or blood marks on their underpants or shorts.

He suggested inferences could be made of collusion between the boys and their father.
One occasion when marks on one of the boys' buttocks had been noticed had been explained by the stepmother as a reaction to a milk allergy. No action was taken about it.

He also suggested that during the evening meal incident, the husband could have been injured by the steak knife he was holding, as the plate was knocked away by the wife.

The man had alleged that the wife had grabbed the hand holding the knife and thrust it towards his face.