Toddler brain injury accused in court

Specialist paediatric reports from three hospitals on a two-year-old boy who has received a brain injury are being sought by the defence counsel for the farm worker charged with causing the injury.

The charge of causing bodily injury with reckless disregard for safety alleges the assault occurred at a house at Otahuti, in rural Southland, on May 31.

Canterbury dairy worker Aaron Kenneth Charles Howell, 21, was further remanded without plea to November 18 at an appearance before Judge Michael Crosbie in the Christchurch District Court today.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett asked for the remand in order to obtain the specialist paediatric reports, and said he believed the reports had been completed but he was not sure where they were.

The boy was taken from Southland Hospital to Christchurch for an operation, then on to Starship Hospital in Auckland where he spent five weeks.

The defence wanted access to reports from these three hospitals.

Mr Garrett said the police file on the case was with the Invercargill Criminal Investigation Branch, though the charge had been laid in the Christchurch Court because Howell had been bailed to a Canterbury address.

It was understood that the boy was now being cared for by family members in the North Island.

- NZPA