Woman appears in court charged with murder of Malachi Subecz, aged 5

Michaela Barriball pictured, ducking, in the Tauranga District Court via AVL in a previous hearing on December 3. Photo / NZME

A woman charged with the ill-treatment of a 5-year-old boy has now been charged with his murder - and been denied name suppression.

Michaela Barriball, 27, is facing a charge of murder, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, disfiguring, and injuring with intent to injure.

She appeared via audio-visual link before Judge David Cameron in Tauranga District Court today.

Barriball is charged in relation to the death of 5-year-old Malachi Subecz, who was found with injuries at a Te Puna property on November 1 and treated in Tauranga Hospital.

He was flown to Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital, where he died on November 12.

Defence counsel John Wayne Howell applied for interim name suppression, arguing that Barriball's family needed more time to be advised of the three new charges.

Michaela Barriball appeared via audio visual link in Tauranga District Court on Tuesday. Photo / NZME

Crown prosecutor Cindy Lee argued it would be "futile" to grant name suppression as Barriball had already been named in multiple media articles.

Judge Cameron declined the application and said it was "pointless" to impose an interim name impression as Barriball's name was already in the public domain.

"There is no arguable case," he said.

Barriball had previously been charged with ill-treating Malachi before his death.

She has been remanded in custody until her next appearance at 9am on February 2 in the High Court at Tauranga.