The sentencing of two women over the death of a 6-year-old Hamilton girl was postponed yesterday because of television cameras in court.
Belinda Edmonds, aged 30, was to be sentenced in the High Court at Hamilton for the manslaughter of her daughter Mereana, while Dorothy Tipene, 33, faced charges of cruelty to the child.
But the sentencing was held up because lawyers objected to a TV3 camera crew for the 20/20 current affairs programme recording proceedings. Television One's Assignment programme also made a late application to have in-court camera coverage, which was declined.
Justice Grant Hammond requested that representatives from the two television channels attend court yesterday afternoon to take part in discussions with him and lawyers about the television coverage. While the TV3 application for in-court coverage was approved by Justice Hammond some days ago, lawyers for Edmonds and Tipene were unaware of it.
Mereana Edmonds was found dead in a Boundary Rd house in May last year.
An autopsy revealed she died from oxygen starvation to the brain after suffering three serious brain injuries, which doctors said could have been inflicted only by being propelled with force into a floor or wall. Tipene was living with Edmonds at the time of Mereana's death.
- NZPA
TV cameras delay sentencing
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