Toddler's death now a homicide investigation

File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Police have launched a homicide inquiry following the death of three-year-old Palmerston North girl Kash McKinnon.

Officers found the girl with critical injuries at a Hulme St house on Wednesday after a visitor called an ambulance.

Kash had been at the house in the care of a 21-year-old man who was not her father, along with three other children aged two, four and six.

She died in Palmerston North Hospital at midday yesterday with her mother by her side.

Police released her name this morning.

A post mortem was completed last night.

The pathologist's preliminary report showed Kash suffered serious head injuries which were considered non-accidental, Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan said.

Police were not disclosing any details about the exact nature and cause of her injuries.

Her body has been released to her family so they can make funeral arrangements.

Mr Sheridan said he had been open about who was in the house with Kash from the beginning, because it felt that was appropriate.

"It is now not appropriate for me to comment about the involvement or otherwise of those people in this investigation."

Police would continue to examine the Hulme St house over the next two days and were interviewing ambulance staff and medical professionals who cared for Kash at the hospital.

The evidential interviews with the other children in house had been completed with the assistance of Child Youth and Family, Mr Sheridan said.

"I anticipate that the gathering of information both from medical professionals and the pathologist, and the review of that information, will take some time.

"This is not a race it is a confined and thorough investigation."

Twelve detectives were working on the case.

Police had approached the situation as if it were a criminal investigation from the outset and today's developments did not really change the way the investigation was driven, he said.

"That is always the most sensible approach to take in these circumstances, to ensure that all available information and evidence is captured."

- NZPA