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Home / New Zealand

Neighbour of Troy Taylor says she heard him telling Ihaka Stokes to 'shut up' weeks before his death

Kurt Bayer
By Kurt Bayer
South Island Head of News·NZ Herald·
27 Mar, 2017 09:47 PM3 mins to read

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Troy Kevin Taylor denies murdering Christchurch infant Ihaka Stokes. Photo/Pool

Troy Kevin Taylor denies murdering Christchurch infant Ihaka Stokes. Photo/Pool

A neighbour of the man accused of murdering Christchurch infant Ihaka Stokes told police she heard him yell "shut up" at the child just weeks before he died.

Troy Kevin Taylor, 23, denies murdering 14-month-old Ihaka on July 3, 2015, at their Truman Rd home.

He claims his former partner and Ihaka's mother, Mikala Stokes, inflicted the boy's fatal injuries while he wasn't home.

On day seven of Taylor's murder trial at the High Court in Christchurch, neighbour Angela Marshall told of hearing "the wee boy grizzling" as she hung out washing about a month before Ihaka died.

She said she then heard the man who lived there saying "shut up, really loudly".

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"I thought they were having a domestic dispute," Marshall said.

She was so concerned that she peeked through a hole in the fence.

She says she saw the man working on a washing machine.

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"He was quite agitated."

She says she saw the man go inside the house and bring the baby outside, carrying him like a carry bag or clothes bag. The child was still grizzling when he placed him on a mat on the grass, she told the court.

Marshall says the man said to the child that he needed to fix the washing machine "or Mum would be angry".

A friend was visiting Marshall at the time and she also had a look through the fence.

Marshall says she loudly said that perhaps the child needed a drink and to go to sleep because he was tired, hoping the man would hear her.

After Ihaka's death, police visited her and she told them what she had heard and seen.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Phil Shamy, she accepted that she never saw the man say shut up to the baby, but that she assumed he was telling the child to shut up.

The Crown and the defence agree there were no intruders on that fateful night and that the boy's 59 horrific injuries, including broken bones, were not accidental.

The Crown says that Taylor was suffering from sleep deprivation, headaches, and irritability caused by multiple concussions around the time Ihaka was developing an ear infection, when he allegedly caused the fatal injuries.

Stokes, who was 36 weeks' pregnant at the time of Ihaka's death with her second child, repeatedly denied the accusations when she gave evidence earlier this week.

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Taylor also denies assaulting the child on July 2, 2015, the day before the boy's death.

The trial, before Justice Cameron Mander, continues.

Taylor is expected to testify later today.

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