Mother jailed for six years after assaults on baby

A Tauranga mother has been jailed for six years for two assaults on her six-week-old son which left the baby severely brain damaged, unable to walk, incapable of sitting up or eating without support and potentially blind, deaf and epileptic.

Tracey Lee Sutherland, 27, pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting a child, for which she was sentenced to three months' jail, to be served concurrently with a six-year sentence for causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

In sentencing Sutherland, Justice Paul Heath said the baby couldn't have come "any closer to death".

"For all intents and purposes, the baby is in a vegetative state with no realistic prognosis of a successful recovery."

Sutherland's baby was born premature on April 29, 2004, after 31 weeks gestation and weighing 2290gm. The baby remained in hospital until June 7 when Sutherland and her de facto partner took him home.

Sutherland became increasingly exhausted and stressed when the baby's feeding became more erratic because of a minor illness and blocked nose, Justice Heath said. The first assault occurred on the night of June 12.

"The injuries that were inflicted that evening occurred when you gripped the baby's head hard and pushed the bottle in with excessive force in order to get the baby to feed."

The second and more serious assault occurred three days later and fractured the baby's skull causing severe head injury, he said.

Sutherland regarded attempts by Child, Youth and Family to help her "almost confrontational" because she was concerned they would take her baby away from her.

She had suffered a sad upbringing herself, he said. Her own home life was dysfunctional, leading her to stray into the use of drugs and causing difficulties with her own children who were later taken into care.

Sutherland initially denied beating her baby, pleading not guilty at the opening of her High Court trial in Rotorua in August and telling the jury her son had been harmed by others, possibly his three step-siblings.

Four days into the week-long trial she changed her plea.

Justice Heath said Sutherland's late guilty plea and attempt to blame others tempered the fact she had accepted responsibility for her actions.

"It is difficult to imagine a more serious allegation against a member of your family when you knew full well what had happened and knew that you had caused it."

Justice Health urged Sutherland to deal with her problems, including a depressive illness, while in prison so she would be eligible for parole after one-third of her sentence.

"Probably the biggest sentence that you will receive here is the need to live with that for the rest of your life."

- NZPA