Auckland High Court. Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers
An Auckland mum will spend three years and six months in prison after admitting to the manslaughter of her newborn son who died after being assaulted.
The woman, 23, has permanent name suppression, and was sentenced at the High Court at Auckland on Wednesday, in front of Justice Geoffrey Venning.
The woman was supported by a handful of loved ones, including her father, in court and looked down throughout the sentencing.
At the time of her five-week-old son's death, in January 2022, she was 20-years-old and the sole caregiver of two young children.
Her newborn son died in Starship Hospital from a fatal brain injury.
According to the agreed summary of facts supplied to RNZ, the woman repeatedly begged her newborn's father, over text, to get the children as she was not coping by herself.
The summary of facts noted she would hit her two-year-old on a number of occasions for misbehaving, crying or being upset. After her younger son was born, friends noted they had seen her shake the newborn when he was crying.
In messages to the father of her newborn son, who she was no longer in a relationship with, she told him she was struggling and the kids were "screaming and crying" while she was having a panic attack.
"I'm asking for help with the kids and struggling mentally and you're not even there to support at all," one message read.
The father replied he was "on holiday" and "had a million plans already".
"Being a mum is f...ing hard. I'm not coping and I need you involved a lot more," she said, "I have no one to help."
In the weeks before her son's death she warned the father she was "about to show my anger with the kids crying".
"It's not going to be pretty if I let my anger out inside the apartment around or towards the kids. The constant crying and screaming never f...ing stops."
The summary of facts said on 14 January 2022, the woman became frustrated with her baby and "lost control", shaking him forcefully and causing severe brain injuries.
She called the father of the baby and asked him to bring Pamol over.
In the early hours of 15 January, it was noted the woman called Healthline but hung up before the call was answered, she called again at 7.18am and hung up a second time. She did not call emergency services.
She called the child's father and asked him for a ride to Starship Hospital but he refused and said he had to work.
She ended up leaving her house at 9.49am and took a bus to Starship, arriving just before 10.30am. By this point the infant was having "constant" seizures.
It was found he had bleeding around his brain and a bruise above his eyebrow along with a skull fracture. The baby died the next day.
The woman's lawyer, Ian Brookie, told Justice Venning, she had suffered an early childhood "full of neglect and abuse".
The texts between her and the father of the baby had shown she was a mum who genuinely wanted to help her children, Brookie said, and she'd reached out to the father for help.
Lawyer for the crown, Robin McCoubrey submitted a starting point of eight years in prison, while Brookie argued a sentence of two years in prison was apprpriate given the woman's background.
Justice Venning sentenced the woman to three years and six months in prison for the manslaughter along with two sentences of nine months in prison for two assault charges to be served concurrently.