Editorial: Boy's death will bring much hurt

There is something heart-wrenching about a baby dying.

They enter this world with so much hope and promise and for one to die well before his or her time is very sad. The sadness after such a death lingers and can affect those close to the child for years.

It is even worse when that death is caused by injury - whether accidental or intentional.

Hawke's Bay Today has, for the past few days, been running stories about the death of a 4-month-old Wairoa baby.

At this stage it is unclear how he died, but police say provisional post-mortem results showed he died of head injuries. The boy, who was yesterday named by police as Raynar-Lee Soljar Thompson-Hatley, died in Auckland's Starship Hospital on Friday.

He was first rushed to Wairoa Hospital earlier this month.

Police say the investigation into what caused the injuries will take a long time, but that the baby's family are distressed by his death.

The investigation remained focused on establishing the events that led to the baby being admitted to hospital on Saturday, April 13, police said yesterday.

With a police investigation under way, we can't speculate on what could have happened, but the community can mourn a life cut short.

Raynar-Lee did not even have the opportunity to learn to walk before his tragic death.

Whatever the circumstances of this tragedy, he did not deserve this.

We need to do whatever we can to prevent tragedies such as this.

Hopefully the police can establish exactly what caused the death of the baby, so that the authorities - whichever those may be - can address the situation.

For the sake of Raynar-Lee's memory.