Death of Ferro-James Sio, 5: Killer dad's partner Leza Rawiri sentenced in Rotorua for role in death

Leza Rawiri has been jailed for her involvement in 5-year-old Ferro-James Sio's death in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner

Warning: Distressing content

Her partner beat his 5-year-old son to death and she was in the room and did nothing.

Now Leza Rawiri will spend five years and seven months behind bars after being sentenced today in the High Court at Rotorua.

Ferro-James Sio died in a cramped emergency housing room at a Union St property on February 8, 2020 after enduring a brutal beating at the hands of his father, William James Sio.

Rawiri said she was asleep in the room at the time. At some point, she woke, had a cigarette outside, then went with Sio to take Ferro-James' lifeless body to Rotorua Hospital.

Rawiri earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of ill-treating him and one charge of failing to provide medical care after he stopped breathing.

In July, Sio, 25, was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for murder, assault, abuse and neglect charges.

Ferro-James died from a sustained and severe beating on the day he died but he had endured ill-treatment and abuse in the months leading up to his death.

Ferro-James Sio was beaten to death by his father. His father's partner, Leza Rawiri, did nothing to stop it happening. Photo / NZME

Ferro-James' mother Martha Te Pere read her victim impact in court to Rawiri, telling her she would never forgive her.

Te Pere described the heartbreak of seeing Ferro-James' body lying on a table with bruises and marks.

"All I felt was anger and I was so broken ... I thought to myself 'what have I done?'."

Ferro-James' aunt, Tracey Lambert's, victim impact statement was read to the court by Crown Solicitor Amanda Gordon, which said she felt guilty she didn't get closer to know what was happening.

Lambert said she had seen family members self-destruct because they blamed themselves.

She asked Justice Sarah Katz to deliver a sentence that was fitting for Rawiri's involvement.

"I'm begging please to do to her what we failed to do for him in life ... Bring her to justice, fight for Ferro."

Gordon also read family member Ethan McMillan's victim impact statement which said he would have nightmares of hearing Ferro-James' voice.

He described having to identify the boy's body and said the injuries were so bad he had to have a closed casket.

It was him that enrolled Ferro-James in school and he remembered his smile on Christmas Day when was given a small gift and realised he didn't have to share it, the statement said.

Members of Ferro-James' family wore tee-shirts in his memory to court for William Sio's sentencing in July last year. Photo / NZME

"My family were there and this didn't need to happen."

McMillan said he didn't believe the truth of what happened had come out.

Sio took full custody of his son in 2017 and began his relationship with Rawiri in 2018. Justice Katz said the relationship was violent and volatile and they moved around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

While living in Tauranga, Ferro-James was attending kohanga reo where he was seen to have injuries. He told his teacher his "aunty", which was what he called Rawiri, did it.

The teacher raised this several times with Sio but he brushed it off as play-fighting injuries.

Sio and Rawiri were heard arguing many times at the Union St property and it would often go on for hours and through the night.

Those in the house heard Ferro-James screaming in a "frantic and distressed manner".

On February 8, Sio began a lengthy period of "discipline" for what he thought was bad behaviour by his son.

William James Sio in the High Court at Rotorua for sentencing in July last year. Photo / Andrew Warner

He made Ferro-James stand facing the wall with his hands out straight. If he fell towards the wall from exhaustion, Sio assaulted him.

On the day Ferro-James died, Rawiri told police she slept through the assaults.

However, she was seen in the laundry area about 6pm. The assaults on Ferro-James continued all afternoon and into the night.

Sio kicked him violently multiple times when he could no longer stand with his hands out. One kick was of such force, Ferro-James' breathing became shallow.

The summary said Sio told police he did CPR on his son and he began breathing again. He then lay down and went to sleep next to Rawiri.

A few hours later, Sio told police he woke and found Ferro-James was cold and did not appear to be breathing.

Justice Katz said Sio tried to find a defibrillator in an attempt to bring him back to life to hide what he had done.

While he did this, Rawiri went outside and had a cigarette on the doorstep.

Justice Katz said finally the pair took Ferro-James to hospital. The child lay alone in the backseat during the drive.

Attempts were made to resuscitate him at the hospital but he was pronounced dead.

Justice Katz said Rawiri's only previous conviction was for assaulting Sio.

She said Rawiri was in the bedroom most of the time when the assaults were occuring.

She said the abuse only stopped when the child died and the injuries he suffered before the fatal blow were hard to comprehend.

Rawiri's lawyer, Mark Ryan, said his client's remorse was genuine but concluded the charges were serious and a community-based sentence wasn't appropriate.

Justice Katz said Rawiri continued to minimise her offending saying there was no way of stopping Sio's assaults on his son and that, on the day he died, she was under the influence of drugs.

She sentenced Rawiri to five years and seven months imprisonment on the charge of failing to provide medical care.

She sentenced her to three years imprisonment for the two ill-treating charges. The terms are to be served concurrently.

Justice Katz said in the words of a family member: "Ferro-James could have been anything, he had his whole life ahead of him".