Pair face machete child abuse charges

An Auckland couple are accused of assaulting a boy with a machete. Photo / Thinkstock

A couple is facing serious child abuse charges, including allegations of strangling and assaulting a boy with a machete.

The couple, who can't be named because of strict suppression orders around the victim, live in Avondale but were born in Samoa.

The boy is now aged 14 and authorities were alerted when he talked to a school counsellor.

The man, 34, is facing two charges of injuring the boy with intent by strangling him between January 2009 and December last year.

He is also charged with beating him with weapons including an electrical wire, a hose pipe, wooden stick, ruler, vacuum-cleaner pipe, belt and machete between June 2008 and February this year.

The woman, 32, has been charged with assaulting the boy with a wire cord from February 2006 and February this year. And, between January and December last year, she allegedly hit him with a plate and from February 1 to 24 she assaulted him using a piece of hose pipe, wooden stick, vacuum-cleaner pipe and an electrical wire.

The couple appeared in the Auckland District Court on Monday and were remanded on bail to May 30. The boy is now in Child, Youth and Family care.

It is understood three other children were living in the house and they too were removed. Child, Youth and Family Northern regional director Grant Bennett said it was the first time the family had come to their attention.

In a similar high-profile case, a West Auckland girl was found by police hiding in a wardrobe in November, with injuries to almost every part of her body. She was starving, dehydrated and anaemic from internal bleeding. Her parents face a total of 36 charges.

The girl has since been placed with a foster family.

On the North Shore, a Tongan mother and father have been arrested for allegedly beating their eight children with weapons.