Harsher charges were considered for couple who starved disabled man

Bruce Rangitutia from Tokoroa died in December 2015.

In the days before Bruce Rangitutia died, the man with cerebral palsy cried out to his carers from his bed "me hungry, me hungry". Unable to move from extensive unexplained injuries and so desperate for water he drank his own urine, the 55-year-old's malnourished and skeletal body weighing just 42kg eventually gave up. He died on December 5, 2015. After a lengthy police investigation, his two caregivers admitted charges of ill-treating a vulnerable adult by failing to feed him and seek medical care over a nearly two-year period. Zizi Sparks asks Crown Law why more serious charges weren't laid.

Crown Law considered more serious charges for a couple who starved a man with cerebral palsy before he died but were unable to prove their actions caused the man's death.

Jovander Raymond Terry and his partner Annie Mathews are behind bars awaiting sentencing. Terry has admitted one charge of ill-treatment of a vulnerable adult by failing to feed and seek medical care for his whāngai brother Bruce Rangitutia.

Mathews has admitted failing to protect a vulnerable adult and failing to seek medical care for Rangitutia.

Now Crown lawyer Amanda Gordon has said more serious charges were considered.

"Unfortunately we could not prove that the defendants' actions caused Bruce's death. He died as the result of probable rupture of a vein in his brain, and the medical evidence could not establish the cause of that.

"While pneumonia and malnutrition contributed to his death, the brain bleed was not related to them, and as such were not a 'substantial and operative' cause of his death.

"That is what I would have been required to prove to have charged them with culpable homicide."

Rangitutia, who had cerebral palsy and an intellectual disability, was moved to Terry and Mathews' home in 2014.

Disabled man Bruce Rangitutia died in December 2015. His careers are charged with ill-treating him. Photo / Supplied

At the time he weighed more than 70kg. By April 2015, Rangitutia was admitted to Tokoroa Hospital in a coma and weighing just 45.7kg.

He put on 14kg during a nine-week hospital stay and was released in July. In the months that followed social workers and police visited the couple's home.

An ambulance was called on December 8, 2015 to Terry and Mathews' Tokoroa home. Rangitutia, 55, had died on December 5, weighing just 42kg.

The charges were laid after a lengthy police investigation.

Mathews and Terry will be sentenced in the Rotorua District Court on July 5.

The Minister of Health, police, Ministry of Health and the Health and Disability Advocacy Service all declined to comment on the case.

In a written statement, the Waikato District Health Board said it could not comment on the case specifically but could provide general comment.

Bruce Rangitutia cried out for help, food and water from his bed in the days before he died. Photo / Supplied

The DHB said if people were admitted to hospital with injuries possibly due to malnourishment or mistreatment, conversations would be had with the client, whānau and support workers or agencies to identify an underlying cause.

"If there is a concern about emotional, financial or physical abuse then a social worker would be engaged. The social worker's role is to be an advocate for the affected client."

The statement said disabled clients had telephone reviews yearly and a face to face reassessment every three years.

"More frequent reviews are arranged if there is a concern whether a long-term care plan will succeed. Other agencies/providers may follow up re the acute needs of a client."

The Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination Services fund physical support for a disabled client.