The young woman boiled a spoon for an unknown amount of time before using it to burn her 4-year-old adopted son.
WARNING: This story contains details of child assault and may be distressing.
Frustrated that her 4-year-old whāngai (fostered) son had wet his pants “multiple” times that day, a Hamilton woman scalded the boy with a boiling hot spoon.
And after burning his pelvic area - directly above his penis - she never took him to a hospital or even a doctor. Instead, she put him in the shower under cold water.
It wasn’t until the next day that she bought two creams from a pharmacy.
The woman, who was granted permanent name suppression today to protect the boy’s identity, appeared before Judge Denise Clark in the Hamilton District Court for sentencing on one charge of disfiguring with intent to injure.
Court documents state the woman, aged in her mid-20s, is the boy’s aunt and has been his whāngai mother since he was 10 months old.
On July 17 last year, the boy urinated in his pants multiple times throughout the day, “frustrating” her.
“Please use the toilet, it’s right there,” she told him, the court heard. “I’m going to burn you if you piss your pants again.”
The little boy wet himself again.
The woman then put a spoon in boiling water for an unknown period of time before putting it on the victim’s upper pelvic area, directly above his genitals.
She then put the preschooler in a cold shower. Her partner wanted to take him to the doctor but she refused, saying she didn’t want anyone to know what she had done.
She bought Sudocrem and kawakawa balm the next day instead.
When questioned by police, the woman said she was “really tired” and frustrated as the boy didn’t normally wet his pants.
She acknowledged what she did was wrong.
Her lawyer Glenn Dixon told the court there could be “no explanation for an injury such as this and the circumstances we know them to be”.
“[Client] has not sought to justify or minimise what happened.”
She currently only had supervised access to the victim at weekends, he said, since a family group conference with Oranga Tamariki staff.
That would continue until they were satisfied she was no longer a risk.
She had done everything she could since the offending to rehabilitate herself, taking part in various courses.
“The focus in the future will be her care of the children and making sure there are robust safety plans in place.”
The woman’s immediate family, who were in court to support her, were integral to that safety plan succeeding, he said.
She was also still quite young and had no previous convictions.
“This is a serious event, no doubt about that, but with time, rehabilitation, and support, I’m hopeful that she can move forward in a positive way and remain being a parent.”
She had pleaded guilty after accepting a sentence indication in December, at which time Judge Clark said she would give discounts for the woman’s guilty plea and youth.
Dixon today pushed for a further 20 per cent discount for how much effort the woman had put into her rehabilitation - which included parenting courses and seeing a clinical psychologist - and for her remorse.
“She has done practically all that she can.”
Judge Clark said she had received a number of letters in support of the woman, mostly family, who talked about a “person who is very caring, who would do anything to help others and that who is, otherwise, a very good mum to the boy and is doing the best she can”.
Reports had shown at the time the woman was “having issues with anger” in relation to her “adult relationship”, and so the safety plans would cover ways to deal with and manage that anger and frustration.
“I’m happy that you understand the harm that you caused to your son,” Judge Clark told her, adding that her son still recalled the incident.
“You are still fairly young and still got a lot to learn and [are] taking the steps to do that, and have very good support.
“Oranga Tamariki are involved, you are working with them and have been to family group conferences.
“Oranga Tamariki is clear they will not change that until they are satisfied that you are able to, over time, be the person that family describes in their letters.”
The woman was sentenced to 18 months’ intensive supervision.
It would also be judicially monitored, meaning Judge Clark would receive updated reports on her progress every three months.
Oranga Tamariki is part of a broken system, say experts.