Breach of home detention lands Northlander back in court

A Northland woman sentenced to home detention on charges relating to the death of her baby has breached that sentence and ended up back in court.

Corrections applied to the High Court in Whangārei to cancel the 10-month home detention imposed on the woman in April and replace it with an alternative sentence.

Justice Gerard van Bohemen cancelled home detention and imposed a sentence of 22 months intensive supervision.

The 32-year-old, whose interim name suppression has lapsed but she still cannot be identified for legal reasons, was found guilty on one charge of assault with a weapon and another of ill-treating a child.

Her five-month-old baby boy died in a Whangārei house where emergency services were called on the night of August 22, 2019.

The initial findings of the post-mortem examination of the child revealed skull and several rib fractures, and significant bruising to his head and other parts of the body.

However, the court found a blow to the child's head with a shower set inflicted by the woman did not cause the skull fracture or his death.

The woman served one month of her home detention sentence at an Auckland address before informing Corrections that she wanted to leave because of disagreements with the occupants of that house.

Approval was given for her to return to Whangārei on May 20 but she was unable to travel that day and sought approval to do so at a later date.

Two days later she travelled to Whangārei without obtaining the approval of Corrections and was unable to be contacted.

Corrections arranged for her to reside temporarily at the Whangārei address pending the results of an on-site technical feasibility test but the house was assessed as unsuitable for an electronically monitored sentence.

The address had an inconsistent Global Positioning System signal, which was not sufficiently reliable to monitor her whereabouts at all times.

Corrections advised the court that field officers would not be sent to the address because of the inconsistent signal and health and safety concerns for their staff who may not have cell phone coverage when at, and travelling to and from, the house.

Apart from her unauthorised visit to Whangārei in May, Corrections said her compliance with the conditions of her sentence had been high.

The woman has been completing counselling sessions with an approved clinician and is motivated to complete an alcohol and drug programme and to undertake a parenting programme.