KEY POINTS:
A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the case of a man accused of bashing his three-month old son, leaving him blind and brain damaged.
Andrew Wepiha, 24, has denied intending to cause grievous bodily harm to Ethan Tiaiti, in April last year.
Justice Marion Frater summed up the evidence at the Auckland High Court this morning before the jury retired at 11am.
Ethan was taken on April 5 to Middlemore Hospital, where paediatricians reported bruising on his face, bleeding over the brain and injuries to the brain. He had two skull fractures, indicating repeated blows to the head, and bone chips at the base of his thigh bones, above his knees. Tests showed the injuries were inflicted over a period of weeks.
Wepiha has denied any involvement but has admitted to police he was alone with the baby at the time.
Yesterday, the jury was told to avoid going on a "witch-hunt" as prosecutors and defence lawyers presented their closing arguments.
Crown prosecutor Deborah Marshall said the injuries were not accidental. Wepiha had taken the baby to the back of the home in Otara and either picked him up out of the pram and threw him against the wall or shook him with sufficient force to hurt him.
Defence lawyer Eddie Paul denied Wepiha had hurt his son and said the Crown's case was based on the "flimsiest of evidence".
It was unlikely, as claimed by the Crown, that Wepiha "swung his son against the house with such force that it caused the haemorrhages" before placing him back in the pram and wheeling him back to where his partner and her sister were waiting.
As Mr Paul disputed evidence about when the injuries were alleged to have occurred, Wepiha sat in the dock wiping away tears.
Mr Paul said Wepiha had actively sought medical attention for his son, something a "child abuser with the potential of being discovered" would not do.
"You are not here on a witch-hunt. Just because a child has been hurt does not mean you have to convict Andrew."
Justice Marion Frater is expected to sum up this morning before the jury retires to consider its verdict.
- NZPA
