Police told the inquest a judge varied the man’s bail conditions around contact with children, in early October 2015.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
An inquest into the how a 17-month-old boy in Southland died has heard his mother vouch for her boyfriend, who the coroner earlier found on the balance of probabilities was responsible for the child’s death.
The coroner is in the first day of hearing about how the boy came to be left alone with the man, in a Southland house in October 2015.
Police did not know the man had unsupervised contact with the toddler, and better information sharing around that would have led to “a major red flag”, a senior police officer told Coroner Marcus Elliott today.
The man’s bail had been varied. A few days after the bail variation, the boy was found dead in his bed by his mother in mid-October 2015.
Some weeks later the man, who had been charged with murder, was found dead in custody.
The first part of the inquest a year ago found the man was responsible for the boy’s death.
Some weeks later the man, who had been charged with murder, was found dead in custody.
A police officer told Coroner Marcus Elliott in Wellington today that a judge varied the man’s bail conditions around contact with children, in early October 2015.
This followed an Oranga Tamariki report that said there were no concerns about him living with the boy’s mother and children.
The court heard the mother told a social worker the man was “very good with my kids” and “I would not allow him with my kids if he wasn’t”.
At a previous bail variation application, in September, a lawyer for the Crown told the court: “I wish to be heard on this. The Crown does not consent.”
The man had a 10-year criminal history including kidnapping, serious assaults and threatening to kill, the police officer told the court today.
A few days after the bail variation, the boy was found dead in his bed by his mother.
The boy had spent the day before he was found dead with the boyfriend at the house.
His vertebrae had crush fractures from a “really great” force, the inquest last year heard.
No one can be named, including witnesses, in the hearing.
The boy suffered injuries, including a leg fracture, that put him in hospital in the weeks prior to his death. A hospital social worker raised concerns.
Another bail variation, loosening conditions around children, occurred after this. The police officer said he did not know if the Crown would have known about the hospital warning at this time.
The inquest is looking into the interactions between the hospitals, police, Oranga Tamariki and Corrections.
The man was in breach of his bail conditions but police did not know this till later, the police officer told the inquest today.
“If police had become aware of the bail breaches we would have investigated.
“I agree … there was no focus on him [the man].”
The relationship between police and Oranga Tamariki (in 2015, Child, Youth and Family) was very good, then and now, he added.
However, significantly more resources were being put into family harm crime nationwide. Southland now had nine staff on it, including three investigators, compared to just two in 2015.
A report laid out changes since 2015 in the police family harm team, though the boy’s case was dealt with by a separate Child Protection Team, the officer said.
“Back in 2015, police and Child , Youth and Family could only act on the information they received and there was no information to indicate that [the man] had unsupervised access with [the boy] before this injury occurred.”
The hearing is expected to last four days.
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