Parents 'failed to get help for baby'

A baby died because his religious parents failed to seek medical treatment for him when he was seriously ill, the High Court at Whangarei was told yesterday.

The attitude of the pair was "we will try to heal" him, prosecutor Kim Thomas told a jury.

Mr Thomas was opening the prosecution case against David Tribble and his wife, Catherine, who have denied the manslaughter of their four-month-old son, Caleb, by failing to provide the necessaries of life.

They have also denied the alternative charge of failing to provide Caleb with the necessaries of life and putting his life in danger.

Caleb Tribble died on December 5, 2003, at the couple's rural home in Pakotai, about 60km northwest of Whangarei.

Mr Thomas told the court Caleb had a kidney infection because of a faulty valve which allowed urine to flow back into the kidneys instead of the bladder.

That caused an infection and he died from blood poisoning.

He said that while the state generally kept out of parenting issues, the law required parents to provide the necessaries of life, including medical treatment.

Shortly before Caleb died the symptoms showed he was very unwell. He had lost 10 per cent of his body weight, he had diarrhoea, vomiting and dehydration, and his feeding was inadequate.

Why the couple did not seek medical treatment was an interesting question, Mr Thomas said.

There was an extreme reluctance to seek medical care.

He said criminal law became involved when the failure to get treatment was a departure from "the standard of care we would expect from a Kiwi parent".

For David Tribble, Ron Mansfield said what had happened to Caleb was an absolute tragedy which had rocked their world.

They were loving and caring parents and the last thing they would do would be to neglect their child, Mr Mansfield said.

If they had been told Caleb would die if he did not get to hospital, they would have done that without question. However, he was getting better and they were relieved.

The family did not know the extent of his illness.

"If they had known, if they had been told, Caleb might be here today," Mr Mansfield said.

For Catherine Tribble, Arthur Fairley said the couple were good Christians, but not religious "nutters" who had nothing to do with modern life and modern medicine.

Every one of the couple's eight children had had midwives and public health nurses.

However, he said, they lived in rural Northland and it was not easy to rush off to the doctor.

The trial, before Justice Geoffrey Venning, is expected to last three weeks.

- NZPA