A High Court jury in Napier has found Hastings man Trent Owen Ngaruhe Hapuku, 23, guilty of manslaughter resulting from the death of his girlfriend's 5-month-old son.
The key issues surrounded the timing of any act which led to the death of baby Mikara Ranui Darius Reti, pronounced dead in
Hawke's Bay Hospital on January 11, 2011, soon after Hapuku arrived carrying the child in a blanket and accompanied by the baby's mother, Jamie Reti.
Justice Miller had earlier told the jury that for Hapuku to be found guilty the Crown had to have proven he was the killer, that there was an assault committed by him and it was a "substantial" cause of death, although it did not have to have been intended to harm the boy.
Death resulted from severe internal bleeding after the boy's liver was split by what the Crown says was an injury which must have happened in the previous hour to 90 minutes before the baby arrived at hospital.
During that time Hapuku was in charge of the child in a sleepout at the Flaxmere home of the boy's grandparents, but, the court was told, had spent much of the day playing a PlayStation game.
Returning to the sleepout from bathing and feeding an older son inside the house, Ms Reti became concerned when she noticed the baby's changed complexion and lack of responses, after Hapuku said her son had vomited during her absence from the room.
While there was no evidence of any assault by Hapuku, Mr Manning suggested he could have reacted in frustration with the child while being more focused on trying to "clock" a PlayStation game.
He will appear for sentence on June 11.
