Severely abused 9-year-old found hiding in cupboard.
An update to this post: From www.stuff.co.nz
Police and social workers are appalled at the alleged abuse of a nine-year-old girl whose body was covered in bruises when she was found hiding in a wardrobe in a west Auckland house. Her parents received name suppression when they appeared in the Waitakere District Court yesterday on 36 charges of abusing the nine-year-old and another child, aged seven. They were released on bail to appear again next week.
Social workers said in court documents the nine-year-old had been abused so badly that almost every part of her body was covered in injuries, including part of her scalp torn off her head as she was dragged down the hall, the New Zealand Herald reported. She was found by police last month after they were called to her home for what is believed to have been a domestic dispute.
At hospital she was found to be starving, dehydrated and anaemic from internal bleeding. She had a broken bone in her foot and extensive bruising all over her body. Her father, 32, faced charges of assaulting her between January 2009 and November this year, using a broomstick and a vacuum pipe as weapons, and assaulting her during over eight days in November.
Her mother, 30, faced charges of injuring with intent, assault with various weapons, wilful neglect by failing to seek medical help, withholding food, and causing grievous bodily harm. She was also charged with assaulting another child, aged seven, with a table leg and an unknown weapon.
It was believed the girl was as removed from her parents by Child Youth and Family (CYF) soon after she was born and returned to them two years ago, the newspaper reported. Court documents allege the girl had been violently beaten since the beginning of 2009, sometimes with a stick.
In April this year, her mother allegedly repeatedly punched her in the face and hands. She did not get medical treatment for the girl but was believed to have gone to the doctor herself after breaking bones in both her hands during the beating. In November her father allegedly beat her with a vacuum cleaner and a broomstick.
It was alleged the child’s mother attacked her almost daily and in November used a broomstick, punched her in the face and body, bent her toenail backwards and caused grievous bodily harm with a hammer, the newspaper reported. She was also allegedly hit with a broomstick and a table leg, repeatedly punched in the face and body, and kicked in the groin with steel-capped boots.
Her toenail was allegedly torn off and salt and boiling water poured on to the bleeding wound. She was allegedly put in a hot bath and had her head held under water, was starved of food and forced to stand in the corner, sometimes naked, without moving.
Detective Sergeant Megan Goldie said police, and others associated with the inquiry, had all been affected by the girl’s injuries. The girl may need counselling for the rest of her life. CYF northern regional director Grant Bennett said staff were shocked by the “horrific abuse” and it was deeply upsetting she had been abused by the people who were caring for her.
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Child Abuse in New Zealand 
As someone who works in the Care and Protection sector of NZ I am horrified at what parents are capable of doing to their children. These people cannot be called human and I cannot believe that they have been released on bail. If a dog attacked a child the way these adults have, it would be caged and then put down, yet our system allows these brutes to walk free until a trial sometime in the future. They can cellebrate the festive season whilst their girls are suffering.
No doubt, at the trial they will be given a slap over the wrist with a damp tissue and given a cushy sentence.
Totally agree with you Shelly. These people are worse than animals and deserve to rot in prison for the rest of their lives (no death penalty in NZ unfortunately). I despair at the way sadistic, extreme violence towards defenseless children seems to be an accepted part of the cultures of one or two ethnic groups in NZ, and the way when said violence is witnessed by extended family members or neighbors; a blind eye is turned and often assistance is given to the perpetrators to cover up their crimes.
Please don’t use the word animals in relation to these people….that speaks so lowly of animals. Not trying to cause a fight with this comment but you get where I’m coming from? You are so right Shelly, a dog would be put down. This went on for years…I’m shocked and feel sick to my gut about it. How can two people go along with this? I just don’t get it. I hope they “accidently” get put in with the general prison population when they do get sentenced. I hope they are dealt to over a very long time and I know, that not one person will shed a tear.
What disturbs me is people who get upset about this type of abuse (as one should) and yet delight in advocating violence themselves.
If you are serious about protecting children and making society safer, you need to stop thinking brutality is a good thing – in any situation.
Yes, those parents are monsters and deserve a suitable punishment – to be taken out of society – but who are you if you enjoy the idea of other people being hurt?
@Sara – I am normally a very peaceable person, who does not advocate violence. However in these situations, I say take the bastards out back after they’ve been found guilty, & put a bullet through their brains. Why? Because they are inhuman monsters. Because they have no positive effect on society. Because anyone who can be so cruel & sadistic to a child should not – cannot – be allowed to live. Because all they do is hurt the most vulnerable members of our society, & worse, enjoy hurting them. Why should they get to live in light of such heinous, consciousless crimes? In NZ, a man got 12 years for brutally beating a child over several years of its life, & then killing the child in an attack that lasted 2 days. He is now a free man, despite warnings by the parole board that he is still dangerous. He will likely go on to hurt yet more children… The solution? If someone cruelly & deliberately tortures & abuses a child – kill them. Simple. Hell, I’d happily shoot them myself, & what’s more I’d feel like I’d done a good deed for society in doing so.
I have to say that Child youth services may be partly to blame, if they had continued to monitor the child after she was returned to her parents, eventually they would have seen the signs of abuse, those kinds of people can’t cover it up forever. I know that they are underfunded, but every child deserves to feel safe and loved, and I agree that those monsters should not be in our society. But they are, and I think they always will be, you can’t have good without bad. So horrible though, you just want to save them all! Personally I have been fighting cyfs for a long time to get my neice away from her mother, and they turn a blind eye and keep giving her mother chances over and over, they want to keep kids with their parents even if they are not meeting their childrens needs and putting them at risk of harm by drug abuse etc…Angering
@MelissaF – I understand your sentiment. But think about what you are saying – you are advocating doing harm to another person. That’s what abusers do.
It is terrible what these people have done, unbelievable, appalling.
But how will shooting them, or torturing, or doing violence to them help that little girl?
The only answer I can see is cultivating an environment where violence towards others is not considered reasonable. Where violence is not a way to deal with problems or frustrations or inadequacies or whatever it is that motivated those parents to treat their children so brutally.
And how do we do that if we continue to promote violence and brutality as a way of dealing with people we don’t like?
@Sarah – I agree – there does seem to be a culture of turning a blind eye to abuse. It’s not just this country, it’s everywhere. Somehow we need to make it OK for people to pay attention and take action if children (or anyone) are being harmed. Surely its better to have a few false alarms, and have families go through being investigated and found OK, then have children injured or killed?
@Sara, I see your point, & I certainly don’t advocate torture. I advocate a permanant removal of such sadists from society. While your view of a utopia is nice, as long as the human species survives, there will be violence. Sometimes, unfortunately, its the only way to deal with some situations. At the very least, these child abusers need to be either locked up for life, or sterilised. We need to start acting like we value the victims more than the criminals who abuse them.
oh, & also @Sara, how does releasing the girls abusers on bail help her? She has been damaged for life, yet they get to spend Christmas at home? At least if they were executed, or punished somewhat harshly, the girl would know for sure that what they did to her was NOT okay, and maybe the cycle of abuse would be broken. Because thats why people beat their children, right? Because they think its okay because they were abused as kids. Maybe if the abusers get REAL punishment, then beaten children will know just how wrong it is, & how precious they are, & won’t beat their kids..
@melissaF – As i understand it, the abusers have not been given bail.
And I think there is ample evidence that violent behaviour encourages more violent behaviour – it is no a deterrent – brutalised people often behave brutally.
So how brutalising abusers give any message that violence was not OK? The fact is, as is seen again and again and again – that approach simply doesn’t work.
I don’t understand how saying, well the human species is violent, so we should continue to act that way (if it’s sanctioned by the state, if we feel its justified).
I think humans probably are inherently violent. But humans are also adaptable and we can act differently. If you can string a sentence together, you can make a decision to behave in non-violent ways.
If you and I don’t think and act differently, how will anything change? Society will remain violent if individuals like us continue to accept violence as a way to solve problems. If you continue to support brutality (oh, yes, well, when it’s “justified”, when its a punishment for abusers), then how does the world ever get to become a better place and how do children ever get safer?
If you treat anyone brutally, even if they are terrible people, then all you are doing is sending the message that being brutal is OK as long as you can “justify” it. And children will continue to be beaten and killed.
@Sara – yes I just read that the temporary bail they had has now been cancelled. I dont believe death needs be brutal or excessively prolonged and violent, but if you reject that option,then what do you suggest as a workable solution? You say you agree that the human species is inherently violent, but then contradict yourself by saying we can change. Something that is inherent is something that cannot be completely excised. So you agree that we animals will always be violent at times. Also, the word justified means something that is just or valid, an action that was warranted. Therefore you agree that executing such heinous criminals is just. So I have no idea why you think non-brutally ending the life of a remorseless, consciousless abuser would encourage violence in ordinary people. Surely it would show people just how abhorrent the abusers actions were; so unacceptable, so taboo, and so unthinkable, that they couldnt be allowed to continue to live in our society. It would indicate to the victims just how wrong it was for them to be hurt. It would make victims feel a lot more valued than the current slap on the wrist that abusers get. And anyway, anyone who thinks the execution of an abuser gives reason for them to abuse is beyond being changed or “helped”. Only mentally and emotionally deviant and retarded people would see the death of a monster as a good reason to become a monster themselves. So @Sara, please explain to me why you think removing abusers permanently from society would foster abuse, make it seem reasonable, or make it more of an epidemic than it is already? Tell me why its better that victims get a life sentence & abusers get a few years in jail? And why do you see a rationally decided, swift & almost completelely painless death as brutal? I would see it as cooly logical, and much better than some of these criminals deserve. And, what do you suggest should be done instead? And finally, why is death so horribly repugnant a solution in your eyes?
You know, im only 17 .. and reading this just breaks my heart. I honestly want to know the name of these mindless idiots so i could do something. you know i really think the court didnt want to give there names out, not just for the kids sake but for themselves as they have alot of haters around including me. I say the hell with it, if they can treat their 9 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER like that, do the same to them ! Its not the girl’s fault she was born ! They are dumb adults who didnt think this through and only wanted some child support money. You know i dont really like payback but in this case it just pisses me off how people do these things to such a little person. I have 2little sisters (annoying sometimes.. all the times lol ) but it doesnt mean I would do that. They should have their faces on a big billboard and put up nz’s idiotic parents ! not enough punishment but it would be embarrising for them. (i dont know) I hope they get sentenced to jail for life. stupid ! stupid ! STUPID !!
We all know this will not be the last. In this case, the girl’s grandparent / other extended family members have been implicated. This is a multi-generation / ethnic-specific problem that have been tolerated for so long that no matter how many reports Paula Bennett calls for this time, nothing will solve this complex social problem. Unfortunately, in 6 months time, another shocking case will take over this one and on and on it goes. As we digest the details of this shocking case, another 5 yr-old girl is killed by someone in the household whose family is known to CYF. How can there be no less than 5 different agencies assigned to this family and the abuse was not discovered? Even when the father was picked up for assault in June; nothing was raised then? It feels like all the people/agencies assigned to this kind of dysfunctional families dare not raise a voice in case he/she/it is seen as being ‘r_______ insensitive’. No one can take a hard line to these multi-generation dysfunctional families because it’s not ‘PC’. Worst of all; those very agencies dare to call on all of us that it is our responsibilities. I just hope a day like today brings peace and hope to this and every other children in NZ
Hi All
What makes me sad is the last post was on 25 Dec it is now into Jan 2011 so you have all forgotten the wee lamb that got beaten within an inch of her life and not forgetting the family that she was given too as a child sexually abused her. You have all moved onto a new subject and new things and I bet you haven’t given this girl another thought. Well I have actually every day I’ve thought how she is doing how is her councelling going is she okay is she sleeping can she play with toys etc you won’t be there to watch her parents go down you will all be busy with your own lives. You have said your peace about shooting them etc. But how many of you will be there to try and help the girl that will need ongoing care for the rest of her life. She will may well end up a drug addict on the game and dead before 21. Why not somebody set up a fund for her??? So she can go onto universtiy without having to have a student loan she may end up being a lawyer? Forget what has been done and think about what we may do to help the girl that this happened too.
that is so wrong and trifling who will do that i know i wouldnt do that to anyone espically your daughter or your son she neds to go to jail right now that is so nasty she also needs to die for that in jail she needs to be in their for life that nasty oh lady someone needs to hunt her down.
i have read all of these posts, and call me what you may, but as a victim of child abuse myself, as a child after my mothers boyfriend beat me i layed in my bed thinking of how good it would have been for a hero in a cape to fly into my house and showed him just how bad it hurt, i was 7 yrs old. thankfully my mother gave me up before i turned 8. so do i believe that the abusers need to be done the EXACT same way that they harm children..you bet. now granted i got married years later and now have a beutifull little girl..and because i have been there..if anyone lays a hand on her in an abusive way…ill kill them and wont look back. ( but i live in texas and the laws here are ALOT) different here and we have killed people ( death row ) for people who have done less than what this scum bag has done.
@ Sonia.
There are people out there who do still worry about that little girl, Not just the girl but all of her siblings who have been through this terrible ordeal. Has it crossed your mind that CYF’s who gave this little girl and her brother back to their abusive parents are too busy covering their own Asses to really care about the rest of the family. Why is it that a majority of these abuse cases have happened in families that have had CYF’s involved in their lives and CYFs have placed the children into the care of the People who end up killing or abusing them even after it has been proved that they were not fit to look after them in the first place.
Why should the children be used a pawn. Is it fair to send them back to a proven abusive environment just because the parent has done a course… Hey it saves on Paperwork, just hand the poor kids back – case closed.
I hope that the parents of these kids get everything that the law can throw at them, but i also hope that CYFs get done for putting these kids back into a proven abusive environment without proper monitoring. Cyfs are too busy trying to prove it was everyone else that messed up
– has the question been asked where was the case worker
– who checked on these kids and why did they not notice anything were they blind
Why were these kids given back to the parents..??????
Sonia – totally understand where you are coming from.
@ Dumbfounded – no I think you are wrong. By the end of this month CFYs will have had roughly 20,000 notifications with about 6500 substantiated cases of abuse. That is a huge workload and no matter how many resources we pump into them, they are facing a losing battle as child abuse is seen as OK by many people – it is the norm.
As for rotting in jail kind of senitments – solves nothing and misses the point that the abuses are more than likely to have been abused themselves – current Correction stats show 62% of inmates have been known to CYF. That is appalling.
Tough sentences – yes, by all means. But we must look at prevention.
As for this poor little girl my heart just breaks. I hope she doesn’t get forgotten and that she does get the support she needs. She can recover from this – Nicole above is living proof. But only if she gets appropriate care. It will always remain with her, but she can heal.
As for why these children are given back to their parents? Well where do you think they go? Foster parents, something which NZ suffers a huge shortage of. I couldn’t be one, could you? If there is no where else to go then what else can CFYs do? Set up State homes again? Anyone who knows anything about them knows they are a pedophiles playground. So it comes back to turning off the tap, preventing the abuse from happening NOW.
I am so Appauled at CYFS for not helping this family at all????? This family had 5 Children including the Victim but as everyone should know right now that this Victim was in fact raised from CYFS for the past 7 and a half Years then returned back to her parents. That is all fine but WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THIS CHILD HAD COME INTO YOUR HOME AND STARTED TO SEXUALLY ABUSE ALL HER SIBLINGS AND PHYSICALLY ASSAULT THEM POISON HER BABY SISTER WHO WAS ONLY 2 WEEKS OLD AT THE TIME, LIGHTING FIRES IN THE HOUSE, BEING TOLD BY CYFS PSYCHOLOGIST, COUNSEL FOR CHILD NOT TO MENTION HER PREVIOUS CAREGIVERS TO KILL YOUR FAMILY WHICH SHE HAD TRIED TO ON MANY OCCASIONS. WHEN ASKED BY CYFS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS CHILD THEY TURN AROUND AND SAY WE DONT KNOW? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT CYFS, WE DONT KNOW??????
PLEASE DO ANSWER TO THIS REPLY????????
NO MATTER HOW MUCH HELP THIS FAMILY TRIED TO GET FOR THEIR DAUGHTER CYFS, JOHN KEYS, PAULA BENNETT, PSYCHIATRISTS, PYSCHOLOGISTS, COUNSELLORS AND MENTAL HEALTH INVOLVED THIS CHILD JUST WOULD NOT HELP HERSELF NO MATTER HOW MUCH SUPPORT SHE HAD BEEN GIVEN.
THIS CHILD WAS IN CYFS CARE THEN DUMPED BACK ON HER MOTHER WITH ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT WHATSOEVER, SO PEOPLE IM SORRY IF I SOUND RUDE AND UNCARING BUT PLEASE GET THE FACTS FROM BOTH SIDES BEFORE YOU JUDGE? THIS CHILD WAS DEFINITELY ABUSED BUT PLEASE HAVE A HEART FOR THE OTHER 4 CHILDREN WHO WERE IN FACT SEXUALLY ASSAULTED BY THE VICTIM ON MANY OCCASIONS IN WHICH THE SOCIAL WORKERS KNEW ABOUT JUST AS MUCH AS THE COUNSELLOR AND MARINOTO AS THIS IS ALL RECORDED ON A VIDEO ABOUT THE VICTIM SAYING SHE WAS DOING RUDE THINGS TO HER SIBLINGS AS WELL AS GETTING CAUGHT RED HANDED BY HER OLDER SIBLING NOT TO MENTION HER MOTHER WHICH MADE THE MOTHER VERY UPSET……IF YOU WOULD LIKE ANY INFORMATION PLEASE DONT HESITATE TO RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL AT ALL. I WILL BE GLAD TO FILL YOU IN ON ALL THE REAL INFORMATION ALONG WITH ALL THE PAPERWORK AS WELL. IF ANYTHING THE OTHER 4 CHILDREN ARE REALLY THE VICTIM HERE, SO IS THE NINE YEAR OLD ITS NOT HER FAULT THAT SHE DONE ALL THIS BUT THE ONLY REAL PEOPLE TO BLAME HERE IS CYFS. OH YEAH JUST BEFORE I FORGET THIS VICTIM ALSO MENTIONED THAT WHILE SHE WAS IN CARE SHE WAS RAPED AND MOLESTED AND HAD TO GIVE ORAL SEX TO HER PREVIOUS CAREGIVER AS WELL.
SO WHEN ASKED BY JOHN KEYS AND PAULA BENNETT WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS SITUATION THEY TURN AROUND AND SAY WE HAVE APPROVED 6 COUNSELLING SESSIONS FOR YOU MOVE ON. HOW ABOUT THAT PEOPLE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND ITS ALL HERE IN BLACK AND WHITE. NOW AFTER WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO THIS 9 YEAR OLD GIRL WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD HAPPEN TO THE OTHER 4 CHILDREN SHOULD THEY STAY IN CYFS CARE TO BE RAPED OR MOLESTED BY CYFS APPROVED CAREGIVERS I DONT THINK SO????????
hi there just read your post and i agree with everything you said , i beilve that children are born into this world innocent and behaviour like that was taught, so the question is where did she learn this from ? , i would love to hear more about this case as im looking at going to study social work in the new year ,
kindest regards
and much apriciated good read
: )
Tanya Erceg
queen_of_The_magpies@hotmail.com
Hi Rebecca, you are right, it is hard to face, i have been a caregiver for 15 years and mostly babies, there have been many where i have fought a losing battle for them.
But i would have to say, dont not consider fostering, it is still a battle worth fighting for and by all you have said your family would be great….
we have to stand up for these children even though it breaks our hearts.
also Mary can you tell me if this child had actually being placed in the care of trained caregivers prior to coming into her mothers care or if she had been in whanau caregivers care, i would consider it to be highly unlikely that she had been abused within a non-kin caregiver placement. We are carefully monitored while children are in our care and properly trained where as kin caregivers seem to not have to undergo any of that.
Q. Why were these kids given back to the parents..??????
A. Because CYFS, Justice system, the government & ALL the other so-called “power’s that be” are ALL full of crap!!; there is no such thing as a decent justice system here in NZ – we live in a child-abuser & criminal haven
whats happend to our justice system , whats wrong with our judges in new zealand, explain how the guardians of this tortured child are out on bail,
Are they all past it ? ? ! ! ! !
if a mother cannot control the antics of a nine year old girl, it does not excuse her from child torture ,whats wrong with the mother, perhaps both are to blame for this cyf and the guardians, as children are not born into this world knowing how to abuse others !
1: how come its taken 12 months!! to bring these filth to court?
2: why should they be given the privilege and protection of name suppression, when their own child was given no such consideration of protection of any kind.
3: ALL family members of this child who knew or suspected what was happening should all be given 20+ years minimum for aiding in child abuse – anyone who sees evil and does nothing about it as guilty as those who commit it. They are all FILTH.
4: CSY’s are likewise liable and responsible for this child’s abuse.
5: People of this sort need to be forcefully castrated to prevent them from producing any more children they obviously don’t want and are totally incapable of caring for.
Hi there to all, reading these blogs are mind blowing to me. As a mother of two, I am proud to say that if anyone ever lays a finger on my children ( or children within my reach) in an indecent manner, god help them. I would treat those non-humans in a way that they wish not to be alive, I do not and will not pay my tax money for their worthless life within a jail, and then to be released back into society to re-offend. As for these poor children being treated this way, my apologies for not being there to save you from these abusers. I believe that the NZ justice system has some serious issues and questions that need answering when they hand these children back to the known abusers. I and my partner have often considered fostering to help these children, but how often are the children taken back out of foster care after developing a safe haven and bond with caring parents and given back to the biological parents. HOW DIS-HEARTENING would that be. I couldn’t face it.
they are f***ing monsters
how can they do that to their kids….
I have a 1 yr old n i love her i have never thought of hurting her
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