Mother almost 'jovial' after child's death

A mother accused of murdering one of her eight-month-old twin boys did not want to see the child before his funeral, a jury in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

Sharon Anne Harrison-Taylor, 39, is charged with smothering and strangling her son Gabriel at their rented Mt Wellington property in January last year.

Her lawyer, Lorraine Smith, says Harrison-Taylor was depressed following childbirth and her client was guilty of the lesser charge of infanticide.

Funeral director Rosalyn Williams told prosecutor Christine Gordon that Harrison-Taylor was adamant she did not want to take the child home before the funeral, did not wish to see him and did not appear particularly upset.

In contrast, the accused's husband, Dean Taylor, was much quieter, shell-shocked and visibly upset.

Mrs Williams said Harrison-Taylor told her "life just had to go on".

At the funeral itself she said that Harrison-Taylor did not talk to her about Gabriel, only about her other three children who had been taken into care by social workers.

Under cross-examination, Mrs Williams agreed with Mrs Smith that people displayed grief in different ways and some people turned their grief inside.

Mrs Williams said that some people at funerals were withdrawn, but that was not how she would have described Harrison-Taylor.

Social worker Debbie Curtis, who went with other department workers and the three other children to the funeral, said that Harrison-Taylor appeared quite emotionless and almost "jovial".

And at a special lunch later at the pastor's place, Ms Curtis said "it was almost as if nothing had happened".

Her husband, by contrast, was devastated and grief-stricken.

Asked by Mrs Smith if her client looked depressed, Ms Curtis said that from her actions she didn't seem either depressed or distressed.

Mrs Smith asked if the lack of facial expression meant that she thought Harrison-Taylor had internalised her pain.

Ms Curtis: "I didn't detect any pain."

Earlier a neighbour, Katherine Miller, told the jury that Harrison-Taylor claimed it was a case of cot death but said the police didn't believe her.

Harrison-Taylor told her that marks on the child's forehead were caused by forceps at birth, something disputed by the prosecution.

At one point, Mrs Miller said, Harrison-Taylor had tears in her eyes and looked stressed.

Another witness, pharmacist Mony Neale, told the jury that she knew Harrison-Taylor from Christchurch and that she seemed a caring mother.

Asked by Mrs Smith if Harrison-Taylor complained that her stomach felt like it was dragging along the ground, she said she did not recall.

However, she said that Harrison-Taylor mentioned that she was in a lot of pain and felt depressed by it.

The trial, before Justice Ellen France, continues today.