Kate Hutchison holds on to her favourite photo and jumpsuit of her son Leith Hutchison who was killed by his father Dane Blake two and a half years ago. Photo / Greymouth Star
Kate Hutchison holds on to her favourite photo and jumpsuit of her son Leith Hutchison who was killed by his father Dane Blake two and a half years ago. Photo / Greymouth Star
Finally lifting the name suppression of the man who killed 15-month-old Greymouth toddler Leith Hutchison two and a half years ago is "justice for Leith" his mother said today.
The day after Dane Blake was unmasked in court as her baby's killer, Kate Hutchison reflected on how the life was sucked out of her the day her child died.
There is still sadness in her eyes and she misses her baby every day, but is trying to move on with her life - "but I will never forget him and I wish he was still here".
Blake, 32, killed the child he fathered with Hutchison by shaking him until he lost consciousness after he would not stop crying while Blake was babysitting him at his Cobden home in 2015.
Blake's name suppression ended in the Christchurch District Court yesterday, when he was sentenced to a further six months' jail on three separate drug charges, having earlier this year been jailed for five and a half years for Leith's manslaughter. Blake accepted a manslaughter plea bargain.
Hutchison said she "saw red" today when told a Christchurch paper carried a two-page story about Blake, based on a series of letters he had written to the paper.
"What is he trying to prove? I'm everywhere (in the newspaper article) and there's just one of his mug," she said.
"Leith and I are the victims in all of this" said his mother Kate Hutchison about a two-page story about her son's father in a Christchurch newspaper today. She said she "saw red" when she saw the article, which is based on a series of letters he had written from prison. Photo / Supplied
"Since this happened it has been me and Leith in the spotlight because Dane has had name suppression, and today here we are again. Leith and I are the victims in all of this."
Hutchison said her name had been "dragged through the mud", when all she had done was give birth to a "beautiful baby boy".
When she found out Blake was Leith's dad she believed she was doing the right thing by letting them get to know each other.
"Any child deserves to have a mother and a father, and I let Leith be with his dad."
Recalling that fateful night when she had left Leith in Blake's care, she said she was woken by the police and told her boy "wasn't well".
She just wished Blake had called her when Leith would not settle, or had taken him back to her place, which was only a short distance away.
"He could have come around and woken me up. He could have said, 'I can't get Leith settled.'"
She had not known until it was too late that he had not been coping: "From what I saw he was a good dad."
With two other children, Hutchison said she had to stay strong and build on their future, while remembering Leith every day.
Her eldest child Issac, who was three when Leith died, often talked about her little baby brother.
"Issac lost his best friend, his little brother, his everything. When we go to the park or the pool and Issac sees other kids with their little brothers or sisters it breaks him and that breaks me."
