The "callous nature" of a daughter who left her elderly mother to rot away and slowly die on a couch shocked and disgusted a nation in a "severe case of neglect" never before seen.
Napier woman Joanne Quinn is serving two-and-a-half years in jail after she was found responsible for allowing her 82-year-old mother, Maureen Quinn, to deteriorate to such a state that horrified local medical staff.
Quinn was her mother's eldest daughter and sole caregiver, and medical staff discovered the mother of eight on November 15, 2011, embedded in a couch and blanket with leg wounds.
She died six weeks after being admitted to hospital on November 15, 2011, from bronchial pneumonia.
During her emotional testimony, Detective Toni Leppien told the court she spoke to the elderly woman the day after she was admitted to hospital.
"There was one time during the interview where I held her hand and she said 'your hand is so warm. I can't remember the last time someone touched me'."
The 82-year-old had lived in her Marewa home for 60 years and raised eight children. Her war veteran husband died in 2006.
Later revisiting her in hospital Ms Leppien said a nurse cleaned a crease in Maureen's neck that was "green and festering".
"She [Maureen] said 'I can't believe I had eight children and I've ended up in this state'."
Her daughter was understood not to have visited her mother in the hospital.
During the trial Quinn attempted to explain her lack of care and said her mother didn't like to be moved or touched because of the pain and wanted to remain independent.
But Judge Jonathan Down could not overlook how the extensive wounds and the "sense of neglect" had a "stunning" impact on Hawke's Bay Hospital staff.
The hospital's chief medical officer Dr John Gommans said the condition the 82-year-old was "something I've never seen".
The judge said the testimony of the medical witness' were "striking" and he was disturbed at hearing the accounts of medical staff who discovered Maureen embedded in a couch.
"It was [Joanne] who took on the responsibility of [her mother's] care. She was total reliant on her.
"This case lacked the mother-and-daughter relationship required when a daughter is caring for an elderly parent," he said. "Ms Quinn senior was no less vulnerable than a young child."
Throughout the trial Joanne Quinn appeared calm, seemingly expressing little remorse or emotion, while her straggly blonde hair and her feverish note scribbling will remain in the memory of all those in the courtroom.
She even appeared heartless and numb as the high-profile case continued to produce drama when her sister, Lena Tracy Quinn, slapped her while waiting in the public gallery on the final morning of her trial.
THE CASE
• Napier woman Joanne Quinn was found guilty of failing to provide the necessaties of life to her elderly mother.
• Her mother, Maureen Quinn, died six weeks after being found embedded in a couch and blanket with festering leg wounds.
• A judge-alone trial at Napier District Court was held in April.
• It was described as a "severe case of neglect" never before seen in New Zealand or anywhere else in the world. Quinn was sentenced to two years and six months' jail.
• Quote of the trial. Detective Toni Leppien: "There was one time during the interview where I held her hand and she said `your hand is so warm. I can't remember the last time someone touched me'.