A tiny Samoan boy's difficulty making the transition from island to New Zealand life may have triggered a savage and ultimately fatal whipping from his mother.
Five-year-old Liotta Leuta died in his Otara home last October after his 30-year-old mother, Sipea Leuta, thrashed him with a fanbelt and aerial wire.
The attack sent him into shock and he choked to death on his own vomit.
Wearing a red "Samoa" T-shirt, Leuta kept her head down and wept in the High Court at Auckland yesterday when she was sentenced to jail for six years, having earlier admitted a charge of manslaughter.
The sentence, translated into Samoan by a court official, left some of her adult family crying at the back of the court.
Her lawyer, David Niven, said she was an otherwise diligent and caring mother of five and the beating defied explanation.
He told the court there was no complete answer for Leuta's actions.
But he noted that her son had been taken away to Samoa aged just one month to live with his grandmother, and was only recently reintroduced to his birth parents and siblings.
Leuta had missed her son terribly, said Mr Niven.
But since his return Liotta had more than once told her she was not his mother.
Mr Niven said the boy seemed to be having problems settling in with his New Zealand family because of cultural and food differences.
The events which led to the beating had started over his reluctance to eat a meal.
Mr Niven said it was important to see the assault as an isolated incident. There was no evidence Leuta had harmed children before.
She had been exceptionally tired the day she assaulted Liotta as another child had kept her up all night, and her husband was too ill to help.
"The stress and frustration exceeded her ability to cope with the demands placed upon her."
She now had to live with the fact her family was broken up, with her remaining four children, aged from 18 months to 7 years, all placed in care.
Justice John Priestley said Leuta had lacked insight and was an inadequate parent.
The abuse meted out to the boy was deliberate and calculated.
"This was not an assault of a few brief minutes of spontaneous rage."
Leuta had smacked Liotta after he told her he was not hungry.
He finally ate his dinner but Leuta sent him off to read the Bible while she got a fanbelt and an aerial wire from the garage.
She cut the looped fanbelt to make a metre-long strap and hit Liotta with both weapons.
"You whipped him front and back along both sides of his body ... 60 welts were found on his body and well over 100 bruises."
Justice Priestley said the cruel abuse was a travesty of the responsibilities of a parent, and sentences had to reflect society's disgust and anger with violent crimes against children.
Liotta was killed by someone he was entitled to look to for love, protection, and guidance.
Justice Priestley said the aggravating features deserved severe punishment, but there were some mitigating factors.
Leuta had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, she had no previous convictions, and was unlikely to reoffend.
Justice Priestley said she deserved some mercy as the knowledge that she caused her son's death would blight the rest of her life.
"I will extend some compassion to you, even though on that fatal night you did not show much compassion to your son."
He urged prison authorities to be vigilant about Leuta's state of mind and to provide support.
Crown prosecutor Simon Moore had earlier told the court Leuta had used weapons in a planned and savage beating which left horrific injuries.
Only the boy's face, genitals, and the soles of his feet were free from bruising.
Mr Moore said it was critical the sentence should be a deterrent and reflect the public condemnation of violent acts against children.
He had thought the appropriate sentencing range to be seven to 10 years.
Mother sentenced to six years for whipping son to death
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