DUNEDIN - Government departments "will be getting a clip around the ear" in an independent report on the 1999 death of Havelock North 4-year-old James Whakaruru.
Children's Commissioner Roger McClay, who plans to release the report next month, yesterday described his investigation as one of the most significant he had done.
"It was investigated at my own volition because I couldn't stomach the thought that a young man, Benny Haerewa, went to prison in 1996 for so severely beating a 3-year-old and then came out of prison after two years and beat the same boy to death before he could go to school at 5," Mr McClay said.
Haerewa, aged 21, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in September last year for James' manslaughter.
James was punched, kicked and beaten with a steel vacuum-cleaner pipe and a jug cord for refusing to call Haerewa "Daddy."
The commissioner's report, due out on June 20, would be given to James' whanau and hapu, his mother, Te Rangi Whakaruru, and Haerewa after consultation, Mr McClay said.
He said he would be calling for better coordination, cross-checking and communication between Government departments.
Someone must have seen the signs that James was being abused. Beatings had gone on in his family for four generations, he said.
"A large number of agencies had something to do with James' life and we are suggesting specific changes that may stop this happening again," he said.
Mr McClay hoped the new Government would not point the finger at other administrations and instead adopt a "where to from here" attitude.
He also hoped it would announce funding in the June 15 Budget so that some of his recommendations could be implemented.
New Zealanders had beaten 240 children to death in the past 20 years, compared with just eight in Norway for the same period.
- NZPA
McClay on warpath over child's death
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.