KEY POINTS:
A woman whose seven-year-old son was "brutally" murdered by his stepfather today pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to provide her son with the necessities of life.
Mary Joachim, 28, admitted the charge at the start of a depositions hearing in Nelson District Court.
Duwayne Toetu Taote Pailegutu died on July 2, eight days after a vicious and sustained attack by his stepfather Johnny Joachim at the family's home in Stoke, the Nelson Mail reported. Joachim has been on bail at her family's South Auckland home since she was charged in relation to the boy's death.
Today she again remanded on bail until her next appearance in court on December 9, in Auckland, to set a date for sentencing.
The maximum penalty for failing to provide the necessities of life is seven years imprisonment.
Johnny Joachim, 37, was last month jailed for life , with an 18-year non-parole period.
Justice Dobson told the court during sentencing that he had subjected Duwayne to a "vicious and sustained attack" eight days before he died.
He said that from the day of that beating up to the Duwayne's death, Joachim stopped his wife from seeking any medical assistance for her son.
He had been angry with Duwayne for leaving a jumper at school and not showing respect to him, and inflicted upon him a beating that left the boy semi-conscious, partly paralysed, and struggling to breathe.
- NZPA
