The 5-year-old had brain bleeds, lacerations to internal organs and “multiple broken bones”, while the younger sibling had “extensive injuries and multiple fractures”, Cotton said.
“These horrific injuries don’t simply happen. Someone knows something: you now need to talk to us.”
Cotton told reporters police are working with Oranga Tamariki, while the children lived at home with their mother.
Detectives, Cotton added, wanted people to come forward with information about how the children were injured, and who injured them.
Cotton believed some people who have already spoken to police are withholding information.
Police interviewed the children today.
“We’ve been mindful of the childrens’ privacy. We are coming to [the media] today because they have just been discharged from hospital,” Cotton said.
“We’re keeping an open mind [about what happened].”
She said police did not know how long the children were being injured and number of people had been “frequenting” the house.
“I can’t go into specific details - but we’re talking brain breeds, lacerated organs and multiple fractures, so yeah - very, very severe,” Cotton said of the injuries to the children.
“[This is] very frustrating. We have issues with child abuse. We continue to work with our partner agencies and get in there and make children safer,” Cotton said when asked about another serious case of child abuse after Lower Hutt toddler Baby Ru died after suffering blunt force trauma.
Cotton said police “need people in the community to stand up and speak up”.
“If people out there in the community know this family, they will know what I’m talking about [regarding any suspicious activity].”
Police investigators believe the siblings’ injuries were inflicted deliberately and likely over a period of time, and are asking for help from the public to determine what happened.
Concerned hospital staff had alerted officers to a potential family harm incident at the Stokes Valley property after a young child sustained serious injuries and was transported to hospital by ambulance, police said in a statement.
A medical assessment of the child and their sibling revealed further injuries believed to have been sustained in previous incidents.
“Their injuries were so extensive one required surgery, and it has taken weeks to understand the full extent of damage to their bodies. Both have a multitude of broken bones, extensive bruising and one child had brain bleeds and severe internal injuries,” the statement said.
The children recently moved with family to Stokes Valley from a property in Waterloo and had been at their new home for just two nights before they were hospitalised.
Police are seeking information about any suspicious activity seen or heard at either property, or nearby, on or before Friday, March 8, that may assist police in their investigation.
Police have conducted area inquiries and are now seeking wider community help with the investigation.
- If you have information that may assist police, call 105 or report via 105.police.govt.nz and reference file number: 240308/4647. Alternatively, report information anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
