Murder accused knew CPR, court told

A woman accused of murdering her baby son by leaving him alone in the bath knew CPR but did not try to resuscitate him because she thought it was too late, a court has been told.

The woman is accused of leaving her 13-month-old baby alone in the bath for about 15 minutes and not contacting emergency services, who were only called when her husband returned home 30 minutes after the boy's lifeless body was pulled out of the water.

The woman, who cannot be named, has pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Auckland to a charge of murder.

In a video of her police interview, the woman said although she knew CPR she did not use it on her baby because she thought it was too late. She did she not call emergency services because she was expecting her husband to be home soon, she said.

She told the police interviewer that one or two weeks before the child's death, the woman saw the boy fall face-first into his baby bath.

Asked why she had then left the baby alone in a much larger bath she told police she thought the baby would be fine.

"I thought he would just be playing around with his small toys that I put in the bath."

The court heard that she partly closed the door to stop cold air getting into the bathroom and went to the kitchen to make her five-year-old daughter breakfast.

She sat with her daughter while she ate and made her more when she said she was still hungry.

She also made a glass of Milo and did some cleaning before going back into the bathroom to find her son face down in the water.

She wrapped him in a towel and patted him on the back for about two minutes but she knew he was gone, the court heard.

Earlier the court heard the woman tell a police interviewer her children were taken from her because they were found unattended in the safe house where they had been staying.

But she said she had left them in the care of another woman while she went to the police station to drop charges against her husband, who had been arrested for assaulting her.

As a result of this and concerns about domestic violence in the family's home, CYF workers gave her a piece of paper to sign giving them the right to uplift her children, she said.

"I thought if I sign it or not the kids still would be taken. I didn't feel good about it."

In a previous statement the woman said her five-year-old daughter was sexually abused by a 13-year-old boy while in CYF care.

But after the children returned home, she felt unable to care for them on her own, as her husband was not allowed to see his family, and she was concerned she would not be able to get her sick son to the doctor.

"I felt incapable of taking care of them, I wasn't even taking care of myself," she said.

She then voluntarily gave them up to CYF for a further six months.

She grew used to the idea of them being away from home and her state-of-mind improved because she was able to work and meet new people, she said.

The baby boy died two days after the children returned to live with both parents.

The trial resumes on Monday.

- NZPA