Tragic family say jury made brave decision

The family of a man found not guilty by a High Court jury in Nelson of killing his baby daughter have spoken out for the first time since the trial.

The comments were made in a letter to the Nelson Mail newspaper.

"This year has been one to forget, but of course it can never be forgotten.

"We simply want to thank the public of New Zealand, and Nelson in particular, for their overwhelming support during this difficult time."

Without that support, the family wrote, it would have been impossible to continue any form of normal life.

"This issue for us is very private and we are private people. We don't want publicity, we just want to get our lives back on track.

"As a family, we really appreciate the way that the media have largely left us in peace so that we could live as normally as possible."

The family said they wanted to thank the members of jury.

"We think that they had a very difficult time and made a brave decision. Comments that they 'got it wrong' are unfairly made by any who did not sit in the court through the trial.

"At the very least, the decision means that a 3-year-old girl has her father back and she will not have to suffer the consequences.

"For those who feel that there was no punishment, we lost a daughter who was so loved words can't describe. The fact that she was severely disabled is incidental."

The family said they had respect for the police before the incident happened and that respect had only been enhanced.

"They did their job, as did the prosecution, and they had an obligation and a duty to do so. But they were professional and humane and in our opinion at times went above and beyond the call of duty.

"By the same token our brilliant defence lawyer, Greg King, did the job he does so well, and our family would never have got through this without him.

"We want to say again, publicly, that we do not blame the doctors involved. The complaint that has been laid with the Health and Disability Commissioner is aimed at policy and systemic matters, not at the doctors. By laying a complaint, we are saying that there are systemic matters that could be improved, and all we want to do is to make sure that lessons are learned."

"Once again, we wish to say thank you New Zealand for helping us get through this harrowing ordeal."

- NZPA