A Whangārei mother has been sentenced to home detention for failing to protect her baby, who later died.
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Earlier this year, the woman - whose name is suppressed - was found guilty of assaulting her five-month-old baby and failing to prevent him from suffering injury before he died in August 2019.
The baby had numerous injuries before his death, including a skull fracture and fractured ribs.
Today Justice van Bohemen said he accepted the baby's mother hit him on the head with a shower head, but that did not cause his death.
However, he said she failed to protect her son and sentenced her to 10 months home detention for the neglect of a child and one month home detention for the assault of a child.
The sentences are to be served concurrently.