Man charged over serious assault on infant

The baby injuried at an address in West Auckland is in Starship Hospital in a stable condition. Photo / Doug Sherring

A 3-month-old boy is fighting for life in hospital after being assaulted.

The baby suffered the injuries on August 30 at an address in West Auckland. He is in the Starship in a stable condition, but has severe head injuries.

Detective Senior Sergeant Nadene Richmond, of the Waitemata child protection team, confirmed police were investigating the assault and had arrested a 24-year-old Henderson man. He has been charged with assault and is on bail to appear in the Waitakere District Court on September 18.

Police would not say whether the arrested man was the boy's father.

They also declined to comment further on the case now it is before the courts.

The case is the second serious assault on a baby in New Zealand this month. Noklair Milton, who is less than a month old, was injured in Invercargill last week.

Noklair is now in a stable condition in the Starship and the Southern District Health Board is reviewing the care it gave the girl's mother, Sucharitta Milton, who visited the Invercargill Hospital the day before the injury was inflicted.

She was reportedly in "agony" when her husband, David Milton, took her to the hospital, where she was told she was suffering postnatal depression.

Last November, a 21-year-old man was sentenced to two years' jail after breaking his baby daughter's legs. James Robert Hall pleaded guilty to two charges of causing grievous bodily harm and had originally been sentenced to home detention, but that was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Hall admitted to police he had injured his daughter, and on one occasion had bent her leg back in "blind anger".

He said other injuries could have been caused through him being rough or careless with her.