The mother of slain baby Soul Turany has publicly accused her ex-boyfriend of causing the 3-month-old’s fatal head injury.
Storme Turany has repeatedly denied she did anything to hurt her infant son and today pointed the finger at the only other person in the house when the non-accidental injury was inflicted – Tony Farmer.
Soul suffered a catastrophic head injury, the result of “a hard impact”, on August 30, 2014.
Emergency services were called after Soul became “limp” and had difficulty breathing. The baby was flown to Christchurch Hospital by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter in a critical condition.
His injuries were not survivable and he was taken off life support the next day.
Police launched a homicide investigation.
They soon confirmed the only people at the house when Soul was hurt were his mother, Storme Turany, and her then-partner, Farmer.
More than a decade later, nobody has been charged in relation to Soul’s death and police have confirmed Turany and Farmer remain the only suspects.
They have “consistently denied” having any part in the baby boy’s death.
Both were ordered to give evidence at an inquest before Coroner Ian Telford.
Farmer was the last witness to be called.
As with Turany, Coroner Telford said he did not have to answer any questions that he felt would “incriminate” him.
“I didn’t really have a lot to do with Soul... because I was at work during the day,” he said.
“Often when I got home... Soul was going to bed... I would try to help in the mornings.”
Before emergency services were called, Farmer recalled Soul being “grizzly”.
“He was crying and quite unsettled... he had a cold or a flu or something,” he said.
Farmer’s evidence continues.
Earlier today, Farmer’s lawyer Andrew McCormick questioned Turany on her account of Soul’s death.
He put to her that she was responsible for Soul’s death, not Farmer.
He suggested there had been “an accident”.
“That’s not what happened,” she said. “I did not hurt my son.”
Turany’s evidence spanned two days.
Yesterday, she gave her account of Soul’s death before she was questioned by Jamie O’Sullivan, counsel assisting the coroner, and Kerry White, the lawyer representing police.
White continued her questioning this morning, suggesting repeatedly that Turany was responsible for her baby’s fatal injuries.
Turany became upset and frustrated, saying she only had “snippets” of memories of the day.
“It does make sense for someone with PTSD, it does for someone who has lost a baby… it does make sense,” she cried.
“This is really hard… I am telling you the truth… I promise you I am.
“In all my statements, I was telling the truth… I’ve been questioned like this before. I know what they’re getting at. I’m not stupid. I know what the point is we’re getting to.
“I just want to be able to help as much as I can – and I’m not, and I’m sorry… I want the answers as much as you do.”
White put it to Turany that before she called Healthline on the day Soul was injured, she already knew he was critically unwell.
Before she made the call, she told Farmer she wanted to take Soul to the hospital.
Turany said that was because the baby had a cold and “wasn’t himself”. He was “unsettled” and she was “worried”.
Turany called Healthline and hung up after 17 seconds, then called her sister a number of times before calling the service back and speaking to an operator about Soul.
White accused Turany of knowing from the outset that Soul was in a bad way.
She said medical experts had told the court that “Soul was unconscious or significantly affected from the time of the injury”.
“It’s likely his breathing was impacted immediately… [one doctor] also said the adult who caused the injury would have known the gravity of the injury, and that’s because Soul couldn’t have injured himself – he was too little.
“You knew Soul was terribly injured, and you knew, because it was you that caused the injury.”
Turany responded firmly: “No, I did not.”
She said Soul was “fine” when she called Healthline.
She said Farmer was holding Soul during that call, and when he handed the baby back, she realised something was wrong.
“He was very, very much conscious when I was on the phone to Healthline,” she said.
“He was very much breathing normally, he was very much alert, he was very much still himself.
“I was a good mum. I back that.”
White asked Turany why, if Soul was “his normal self”, did she want to take him to the hospital before calling Healthline.
“When I say ‘fine’ and ‘normal self’ – I mean he wasn’t limp,” she said.
“He was able to make eye contact with me… he was still warm and still breathing… it went from like that to when he got handed back to me… he was limp… he was gasping for air, he wasn’t responsive, he couldn’t blink.”
Turany said she was watching Farmer with her baby during the call and “can’t remember” how much time the pair were out of her sight.
She became upset at the questioning, saying she felt she was being “interrogated”.
“I would not lie in your courtroom,” she said.
“I can’t tell you exactly where I was... for the duration of that phone call. I am being as honest as I can.
“If I was going to point fingers – I would have done it years ago.”
White said it made “no sense” that Turany would leave her baby with Farmer, given she had repeatedly said she was an “overprotective” mother who did not like the way her boyfriend handled her baby, and as a result, did not generally let him help or interact with Soul.
Turany earlier said she felt Soul “did not like” Farmer and was “uncomfortable” with the man.
“No, it doesn’t make sense,” Turany said. “But that’s what happened.”
White suggested Turany was watching her baby “the whole time” and was saying otherwise to “open up an opportunity” for Farmer “to be on his own with Soul”.
“You’re the one who did it... you handed Soul to Tony Farmer because you couldn’t bear to hold Soul because you knew that he was terribly injured,” she said.
“You were hoping against hope that he would be okay... In a nutshell, you’ve caused the injury and then you’ve delayed getting help... you’ve removed yourself... and then when he stopped breathing 111 had to be called. That’s right, isn’t it?”
Turany responded: “No, it is not. I did not know he was injured.”
White asked Turany if she could have “done something to Soul and not remembered doing it”.
“You have chucked Soul down on the bed... and on this occasion hit something hard... the headboard or the footboard,” she said.
“I’m saying to you that’s what’s happened here... I’m not suggesting that’s an outcome you intended, but that’s actually what’s happened.”
“No it’s not,” Turany said. “What you’re saying is not true.”
“If you didn’t do it, it logically must have been Tony Farmer,” White said.
“Logically, yeah,” Turany agreed.
White also grilled the woman on why she stayed in a relationship with Farmer for a short period after Soul died.
“Is that because it wasn’t Tony Farmer who inflicted the injury – it was you?” she said.
Turany rejected that.
Turany finished her evidence by telling the court she had told the truth and she was being honest when she said she “could not remember” much of what happened from the time of Soul’s death.
She reiterated that the person who was with Soul the most directly before his injury was “Tony”.
Coroner Telford asked her about the messages she sent to Farmer in the days after Soul died, including inviting him to the baby’s funeral and accepting his support.
“I’m asking you as Soul’s mother... these are messages between you and a man that could have murdered your child – killed your child?” he said.
“Police were really clear with you... You were really clear in your evidence that it wasn’t you, and so it follows... the only person it could have been was Tony Farmer.
“How do you explain that you continued to speak even cordially to this man?”
She said: “I can’t explain it – it makes me feel sick.
“I did not want to believe it... I thought surely this would be some sort of mistake.”
Coroner Telford earlier heard evidence from a number of doctors and medical experts involved in Soul’s case, the head of the police investigation into his death and a psychologist specialising in behavioural science about who was “more likely” to have fatally injured the baby.
The inquest is expected to conclude tomorrow and Coroner Telford will then consider all of the information presented before making his findings.
Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz