A Hastings woman jailed for child abuse had seven months added to her sentence after pleading guilty to perjury and falsifying a birth certificate.
Tepatasi Maulolo, 35, and her husband Kalifa Maulolo, 44, were imprisoned in March after a jury found them guilty of wilful neglect during a trial at Napier District Court in January this year.
Mrs Maulolo was imprisoned for two years and four months, and Mr Maulolo for three years after they left a 10-week-old baby in "excruciating pain".
The Court of Appeal reduced Mrs Maulolo's sentence by three months in September because she sought medical treatment. Mr Maulolo's appeal was dismissed.
The 10-week-old child was in the care of the couple, however it was later established he was not their biological baby despite a birth certificate indicating otherwise.
Yesterday, the couple appeared at Napier District Court, Mr Maulolo via a video link from prison, for a sentencing indication regarding charges of perjury and offences against the judicial process.
The child was born in January, 2011, at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital, to a cousin of Mrs Maulolo. Arrangements were made by the family for the couple to adopt the baby, however on February 15 the birth certificate was completed with the couple "effectively signing as the birth parents", the court heard.
On July 8, 2011 Tepatasi also signed an affidavit swearing she was the birth mother of the child.
Yesterday, Judge Bridget Mackintosh indicated during the couple's trial "[Tepatasi] said in [her] evidence that [she] and [her] husband signed the birth certificate knowing the details were false".
Judge Mackintosh imposed a cumulative sentence of seven months for Mrs Maulolo for perjury and falsifying the baby's birth certificate, while Kalifa has been given several days to consider the sentencing indication provided by the judge.
The baby received multiple bone fractures, including a fractured femur, which had also been displaced, and a fractured tibia and pelvis.
The injuries happened some time between when the child was born in January and March 25, in 2011, but were only discovered in April 2011 when the pair moved to Hastings from Lower Hutt.
Expert evidence given during the trial indicated the injuries occurred from at least two separate incidents and the displaced femur would have caused "significant, sometimes excruciating pain".
Mrs Maulolo's initial sentence was reduced upon appeal after three Court of Appeal Judges, Justice Jillian Mallon, Justice Simon France and Justice P O'Regan, found an "additional factor" to Mrs Maulolo's offending which "ought to have been recognised".
Mrs Maulolo had taken the baby to either a hospital or medical centre on three occasions, firstly on March 16, 2011, because of a fever, on March 30, 2011, for immunisations and on April 5, 2011, when there was swelling evident in one of the child's limbs.
During the first two visits to a doctor the injuries were not discovered, nor disclosed by Mrs Maulolo, but on the third trip "the full extent" of the boy's injuries were found.
Mrs Maulolo did not alert medical staff to the seriousness of the injuries, but the Judges said she should be given credit for taking the child to receive medical treatment, which "could have led to the discovery of the injuries".