by Cherie Taylor cherie.taylor@dailypost.co.nz
Nia Glassie was made to stand naked in the rain for three hours the day before it's believed she received a fatal brain injury, a High Court jury has heard.
The 3-year-old Rotorua toddler died in Starship Hospital on August 3, 2007, 12 days after she was taken to Rotorua Hospital in a coma.
Nia's mother Lisa Kuka, her partner at the time Wiremu Curtis, his brother Michael Curtis, his partner Oriwa Kemp and Nia's cousin Michael Pearson have been charged with causing her death.
The Crown alleges both Curtis brothers kicked Nia in the head on July 22.
In the second of two taped police interviews played to the jury yesterday, Wiremu Curtis said that on July 19, Kemp made Nia stand outside on the balcony naked in the rain for about three hours. The girl was pushed off the deck, causing her to hit her head on the concrete. When Nia was allowed back inside, Kemp "dragged" her through the house by the legs, hitting her head on the table and door. "She was bouncing off stuff."
On another occasion Wiremu Curtis said Kemp "slammed" Nia's head into the table.
Wiremu Curtis had two videotaped interviews with Detective Mark van Kempen. In the first, on July 23, he said Nia's siblings told him Kemp used wrestling moves on the toddler on July 18. He stated Kemp was the only one who used wrestling moves on the toddler, denying he had but saying he felt responsible for causing Nia's fatal injuries because he was playing tackles with her and her two siblings and she fell from his shoulders when he was knocked off his feet. He said her head hit the floor while her body hit a mattress on the floor.
He told police Kemp regularly slapped Nia on the head and back and threw shoes at her head. "Oriwa is a bit of a bully because that's what she is like."
Within a short time of Nia falling on the Friday night, Curtis said she fell asleep and was doing the "funky chicken" with her arms moving. Nia didn't wake again.
When asked in the interview why he didn't take Nia to hospital, Wiremu Curtis said he didn't have a ride. "I started to cry because of the way she looked."
Wiremu Curtis told Mr van Kempen his father, William Curtis senior, had previously lifted Nia up by a scarf around her neck until she "went purple".
The same night of the first interview, Mr van Kempen said he received a call from Wiremu Curtis' mother, Tania Heta, saying her son wanted "to get something off his chest".
The next morning he conducted another taped interview in which Wiremu Curtis said Nia had been abused by both Kemp and brother Michael Curtis during the two weeks before she received fatal injuries. He wept in the interview.
Wiremu Curtis said the pair used wrestling moves on Nia and hit her often but he never told Nia's mother. Nia was put on the clothesline naked and spun around about 100 times, falling off about four times and hitting her head, Wiremu Curtis said in the interview. "Her nose bled."
On the day Nia received her fatal injuries, both his brother and Kemp had performed wrestling moves on her, jumping off the couch with her between their legs and hitting the floor, Wiremu Curtis said.
A short time later she was asleep and doing the "funky chicken" and foaming at the mouth. As his videotaped interview was played to the court, William Curtis, the brothers' father, who has been at the trial every day since it started three weeks ago, walked out and did not return. A short time later the Curtis brothers were separated in the dock by a prison guard after Wiremu Curtis made a cutthroat gesture to his brother.
Two written statements and five videotapes of interviews with Lisa Kuka were to be presented to the court today. The trial, before Judge Judith Potter and a jury of 11 is expected to take another week.
Nia made to stand in the rain, jurors told
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