Travis Mallett, 3, died following an incident in a spa pool at his home on Broadlands Rd, Reporoa, in 2018.
Warning: Distressing content
He was a normal happy little boy. But something changed in the months leading up to his mysterious death. It’s been seven years since Reporoa 3-year-old Travis Mallett died after an incident in a spa pool at his home. An examination of his body found he had several broken bones inflicted in the month before he died. Two police investigations have failed to hold anyone to account. Now, a Rotorua coroner is tasked with seeking answers. Senior journalist Kelly Makiha was at the four-day inquest this week.
A medical expert says Travis Mallett was held under water in a spa pool, causing a fatal brain injury.
Dr Patrick Kelly came to his conclusion based on the fact he believed the Reporoa 3-year-old had suffered child abuse, in his opinion proven because his body was found with several broken bones inflicted at different times in the month before his death.
The evidence was presented this week at an inquest in the Rotorua Coroner’s Court before Coroner Donna Llewell.
Coroner Llewell is tasked with seeking answers to how Travis died on September 18, 2018, and whether anyone was responsible for his death or earlier injuries. She’s also looking into whether any recommendations can be made to prevent similar deaths.
Travis’ life support was turned off the day after an incident in a spa pool at his Broadlands Rd home.
Travis lived with his mother, Nicole Stolzenberg (nee Douglas) and siblings at her then new boyfriend Nicholas Stolzenberg’s home.
The Stolzenbergs were at this week’s inquest and sat in the public gallery while witnesses gave evidence.
The couple, who recently married, embraced each other throughout the inquest while clutching soft toys that once belonged to Travis.
Nicole Stolzenberg gave evidence at the inquest but Nicholas Stolzenberg, through his lawyer Andrew Davie, refused on the grounds of privilege against self-incrimination – a legal ground under the Evidence Act 2006.
Nicole Stolzenberg clutched “Foxy”, one of Travis’ teddy bears, and gave evidence on the first day of the inquest on Monday.
She said she separated from Travis’ father, Daniel Mallett, at the end of 2017.
She began a new relationship with Nicholas Stolzenberg in about March 2018 and moved into his home with her children in about April or May that year.
She became worried about Travis’ health from June 2018, noticing bruises and marks on his body and him complaining of leg pain to the point he couldn’t walk at times.
Nicholas Stolzenberg told her he, Travis and another young child were playing a game in the spa pool and Travis was bobbing his head under the water for short periods. She said he told her Travis went a funny colour and started to vomit.
Soon after he stopped breathing and Nicholas Stolzenberg started CPR.
Fletcher Pilditch KC, lawyer for the coroner, noted Nicole Stolzenberg had taken Travis to the doctors in the months leading up to his death because she was concerned about his health.
“You had been taking him to the doctors, you had taken photos of his injuries, you had observed him being lethargic and his eating wasn’t great.”
Nicole Stolzenberg agreed.
When asked how she thought the marks and injuries were happening, Nicole Stolzenberg said she didn’t know.
“If I knew I would tell you.”
She said she tried to tell Rotorua Hospital doctors there was something wrong but she felt they brushed her off saying “it is a virus, he will be fine”.
“I was continuously told ‘it’s a virus, he will be fine”. That line is one that will stick with me forever as we now know it wasn’t a virus and he isn’t fine."
Nicole Stolzenberg said when her son had trouble walking, she asked one of the doctors if they could do a brain scan or a full body scan.
“Looking back if they had done the scan like I’d asked them to, there might have been a different outcome. This conversation we had has conveniently not been recorded in their hospital notes.”
She said an X-ray missed the fact her son had a broken bone, which meant her son suffered discomfort and there were missed opportunities to help him.
“I love my son and I asked for help knowing he wasn’t right.”
When asked about her relationship with Travis’ father, she said he was not interested in playing with the children and had a temper.
She said on the weekend of August 21, 2018 – which was when doctors thought a leg fracture occurred – Mallett had the children for part of the day.
Under cross-examination by Adam Holloway, lawyer for Rotorua Hospital doctors who have interim name suppression, Nicole Stolzenberg conceded there was no mention in the doctors' notes of a virus.
Holloway asked Nicole Stolzenberg if it was correct the doctors told her if her son’s condition didn’t improve, she was to bring him back. She agreed she was told that.
Holloway asked Nicole Stolzenberg about an incident she told police about when she said Travis’ lips went blue while playing and he went “floppy” but she blew in his face and he “came around”.
Holloway asked why she hadn’t mentioned that to doctors as it wasn’t in their notes. Nicole Stolzenberg said she didn’t know.
Daniel Mallett told Coroner Llewell in evidence he would have his children most weekends. He couldn’t recall if he had had the children for only part of the day on August 21, 2028.
He noticed his son had sore legs and complained about walking on one occasion that month when he took the children to the snow at Mt Ruapehu.
He couldn’t recall there being any time when Travis would have been injured causing broken bones.
Under cross-examination by Davie, Mallett admitted he “had a bit of a temper” but he denied comments made by Nicole Stolzenberg that he would hit Travis “pretty bad”.
He said he had put some holes in walls previously during arguments with Nicole Stolzenberg but he had never hit anyone.
Extensive medical evidence was presented by paediatrician Dr Patrick Kelly, who has nearly 30 years' experience in child abuse cases.
He said Travis’ health started to deteriorate from June 2018. His mother took him to their GP with unexplained bruising and, later in the month, an enlarged lymph node in the groin, loss of appetite and loss of energy.
During the following months he lost about 1kg a month.
Kelly said Travis’ mother took him to Rotorua Hospital on August 21 following a two-day history of refusing to walk. His hip area was X-rayed but no abnormality was seen.
Kelly said on retrospective review, Travis had at least three unexplained fractures. Travis was reviewed the following day and returned for a check-up on September 5. No diagnosis was made and he appeared to have improved slightly.
Referring to the spa pool incident, Kelly said it was Nicholas Stolzenberg’s evidence to police Travis had his head under the water for two to three seconds.
Kelly said Nicholas Stolzenberg said Travis suddenly shot up and out of the water and projectile vomited across the spa pool.
Kelly said Nicholas Stolzenberg’s version was “bizarre” and “weird” and there was no medical explanation to back it up.
A post-mortem found Travis had 10 fractures including around the pelvis and pubic bone areas, leg and foot.
During his evidence, a video was played of Travis trying to walk while holding on to his bunk bed. The video was taken by Nicole Stolzenberg on August 30, 2018, and showed Travis in extreme distress.
Members of Travis' family in the public gallery cried as the video was played. Kelly said he purposely played the video without the sound as Travis’ crying was distressing.
Kelly said Travis died from extensive and irreversible brain damage.
In his evidence, Kelly ruled out possible alternative causes of death, including a delayed reaction to a head injury earlier in the day when he was said to have hit his head on a car door.
Kelly said Travis had no symptoms of concussion, no internal head injury and a trivial cut to the head could not result in delayed sudden death.
He also ruled out a sudden heart issue. Extensive testing was carried out on Travis and genetic testing on his immediate family members which ruled out this possibility.
An undiagnosed seizure was also not possible as, even in children with known epilepsy, sudden death was rare, he said. He noted there were no types of seizure that propelled an individual vertically off the ground.
“From a paediatric perspective, I see no reasonable possibility that Travis died from previously undiagnosed epilepsy.”
Shallow water drowning from breath holding was described as “simply not possible”.
Kelly said all evidence indicated whatever happened to Travis occurred in the spa pool.
Kelly said the alternatives were inflicted drowning or suffocation.
“In considering these alternatives, the fact that Travis experienced multiple episodes of serious physical abuse leading up to death is obviously relevant.”
He said many children who died from child abuse had a pattern of injury leading up to their death.
“In my opinion, the only explanation that makes sense in the circumstances is that Travis was held beneath the water between the jumping up and the death.”
Kelly’s evidence was peer-reviewed by several doctors and medical experts, including American expert Dr Lori Frasier, who gave evidence at the inquest via audio visual link.
She said the medical reports showed “overwhelming evidence he was being abused”.
Frasier said the injuries suffered by Travis included bruising in unusual locations, such as the ears and upper back.
The pelvic fractures could have occurred from slamming Travis on to the ground, Frasier said.
She said he might have suffered the injuries from accidental falls but given his caregivers hadn’t reported any such incidents, it made it unlikely.
“I’m not saying the caregiver who brought him forward knew the actual events that happened, but there had to have been pretty traumatic events that led to these symptoms Travis experienced.”
She said without details of any accidents, you would “have to be suspicious”.
She agreed with Kelly’s evidence that Travis could not have died how Nicholas Stolzenberg described.
She said Travis either would have been left unsupervised, and therefore went under the water longer than reported, or was held under by an adult.
Nicholas Stolzenberg’s lawyer, Davie, said he would not cross-examine Kelly and Frasier because his client didn’t have the resources to challenge the evidence.
Kelly was questioned by Pilditch, lawyer for the coroner, about the Violence Intervention Programme (VIP) and how often doctors used the resource to establish child abuse cases.
Kelly said VIP was mandatory but in reality wasn’t always used given doctors' workloads.
“We have a significant issue with violence against children. We should make this a priority,” Kelly said.
One of the doctors who saw Travis at Rotorua Hospital on August 22, 2018, and September 5, 2018, who has name suppression, broke down in tears at the start of their evidence, saying “Travis was an amazing boy. This is hard”.
They said various scenarios were discussed with Travis' mother about what was causing his symptoms.
The doctor said they were never shown the video taken by Nicole Stolzenberg on August 30 that showed Travis in pain. They told the court that had they seen it, it would have raised their concerns about possible child abuse.
Detective Sergeant Tony Colby said during evidence police had not been able to determine how Travis received the brain injury that led to his death and there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone for his death.
He said police had been unable to determine how Travis received any of his injuries.
He said part of the police’s investigation was identifying or eliminating people who were with Travis around the dates Kelly believed his injuries were inflicted.
There was insufficient evidence to charge anyone for these injuries.
Colby said while they had come to the end of their investigation, the case remained open.
Coroner Llewell said at the end of the inquest it would have been difficult for family members hearing some of the evidence for the first time.
She said given Nicholas Stolzenberg had accepted his right not to give evidence, her findings would be based on the evidence before her.
She said there would be no criticism of doctors involved in Travis’ care.
“I am left with this residual feeling of, clearly, was there missed opportunity? ... I do wonder if he had received medical attention sooner would we be here today?”
Lawyers had until April 17 to make submissions and her decisions should be completed within four months of that date.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
The offender previously stole $305,000 from her employer.