Weymouth toddler's death: Two defendants plead not guilty through their lawyers. Video / Hayden Woodward
A woman who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her 2-year-old daughter can now be named.
Nikitalove Brampton Tekotia, 23, pleaded guilty in March to the manslaughter of Arapera Fia during lockdown at her Weymouth home on the evening of October 31, 2021.
Her guilty plea was for failing in her duty to protect the child, not for directly inflicting the injuries.
The 2-year-old was unresponsive upon arrival at Starship Hospital and pronounced dead hours later, just after midnight the next day.
Tekotia’s application for suppression until sentencing was declined and her lawyer did not file an appeal before Friday, when the appeal period expired.
Tyson Brown, 22, who was in an off-on relationship with Tekotia and is not Fia’s father, was found guilty of murder following a two-week trial in March.
Details of her manslaughter charge can now be reported for the first time now her name suppression has lapsed.
They say she failed to take reasonable steps to protect her daughter from injury, “which in the circumstances was a major departure from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person to whom that duty applies, and which omission caused Arapera Fia’s death”.
Justice David Johnstone, summarising Brown’s offending at sentencing, said he snapped after a phone call and subjected Arapera to a forceful and brutal assault.
“Using considerable force you struck her against hard surfaces in her bedroom,” the Judge said.
The toddler suffered three distinct severe head injuries, a compression fracture to her spine and bruising over much of her body.
Justice Johnstone said Brown’s subsequent actions delayed calling emergency services and deceived others in the house. When emergency services arrived they found faint signs of life but Arapera died shortly after arriving in hospital.
Tyson Brown appears in the High Court at Auckland at the start of his murder trial. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Brown was transferred to a managed isolation facility in the days before he was charged. Police intercepted phone calls where he pretended his actions had not caused Arapera’s death.
When Brown shook his head in the dock during Justice Johnstone’s discussion of his deceitful phone calls, he earned an icy rebuke from the Judge.
“Don’t shake your head. It won’t serve you,” he said
Justice Johnstone described his actions in delaying calling 111 as a “callous, selfish and manipulative” attempt to avoid blame for her injuries.
