'He was so good with my son'

A Northland mother told a court she loved the man accused of murdering her 15-month-old son because he was so good with the child.
Jade Osborne gave evidence in the High Court at Whangarei yesterday about her relationship with Kyle Skerten, the 23-year-old Kerikeri man charged with murdering her son, Riley Osborne.
Riley died four days after suffering severe head injuries at his Kerikeri home in Cobham Rd on December 19, 2008.
Skerten also faces a raft of drugs-related charges including eight of offering to sell cannabis, nine of supplying pseudoephedrine, and four of offering to supply methamphetamine.
Skerten told police he went into the bedroom and found Riley on the floor after he had climbed out of his cot. In a brief statement, the defence described the death as a "dreadful accident".
In court, Ms Osborne was asked about Skerten's relationship with Riley.
"That was part of the reason I fell in love with him, because he was so good with my son," she said.
The court also heard from Ms Osborne about injuries Riley had prior to his fatal head injuries and how she had taken photos of them for a scrapbook to be given to him on his 21st birthday.
The injuries included black eyes, a broken leg and bruising.
Ms Osborne had been in a relationship with Skerten since the beginning of 2008.
She said Riley had slept in a bassinet next to her bed before he was moved into a cot in another room.
She told the court she had never known Riley to have climbed out of his cot before the night he sustained the serious head injuries.
Ms Osborne, Skerten and a friend, Rosalyn Warmington, were the three adults in the house when the toddler was injured.
Riley was put to bed with a bottle by his mother about 6.40pm.
"The next time I saw Riley was when Kyle ran out of the bedroom with him in his arms,"  Ms Osborne said.
"He was unconscious. He was floppy in my arms. I screamed 'someone call an ambulance'."
She said Skerten had only been gone long enough to go down the hall and then he came running back "at full speed".
Ms Osborne broke down in tears as she described how she waited at Starship Hospital in Auckland as Riley received emergency surgery on his brain.
 
The cot and furniture plus the carpet and underlay from Riley's bedroom in Cobham Rd were set up in court as part of the Crown case yesterday. The case is continuing this week.