A clinical psychologist says the person “most likely” to have inflicted the “severe” head injury that killed 3-month-old Soul Turany was his mother, Storme.
But her then-boyfriend, Tony Farmer, also had a “motive” to hurt the newborn.
David Scott, a psychologist working in the police behavioural science team when Soul died near Christchurch in 2014, was asked by homicide investigators to assess their evidence and provide an “objective assessment, interview strategies and relevant suggestions that may advance the inquiry”.
He was then asked to provide an “order of preference” for the suspects in the case for the police to focus on”.
“Only two people were present in the house when Soul was injured,” he said, reading from the report.
“During separate evidential interviews, both denied fatally injuring Soul.
“Though I have no sound evidence, clinical experience leads me to believe Storme Turany was the most likely perpetrator of Soul’s fatal injury.”
Coroner Ian Telford was told today that Scott’s report was a recommendation and “does not purport to make factual findings” – it was merely his expert assessment of the two suspects in the case based on information provided by police.
Scott, who no longer works for the police, did not interview Turany or Farmer himself and clearly stated his opinion was based solely on evidence provided by police.
He said he “drew conclusions on a constellation of factors” to arrive at his position – but conceded he did not read the entire police file as there was not enough time.
His evidence was heavily challenged by lawyers for both Turany and Farmer.
Both questioned the information – or lack of information – his final opinion was based on and the relevance and veracity of some of the background material he relied on.
Turany’s sister Skye Lamborn said some of the information she had heard in court about her relative “simply isn’t true”.
Scott agreed that not speaking directly to Turany or Farmer there resulted in “limitations” to his assessment.
But he stood by his findings based on what he was presented with by the police at the time.
Scott said that Turany was “ill-equipped to be a mother”, and he believed she was “experiencing postpartum depression” when Soul died.
“She didn’t have the adequate skills, experience, and supports,” he said.
Her boyfriend of two months, Tony Farmer, “had his own psychological problems and was ill-equipped to be a parent”.
Their relationship was “rushed’ and they did not have the “coping skills” to be living together with a new baby.
“In my opinion, both Tony and Storme had some motive,” Scott told the court.
“On the night … I believe Storme was physically and emotionally exhausted and in some distress. She was also sleep-deprived and barely tolerated Tony.
“Soul was inconsolable again … she had tried in vain to soothe him … Storme was trapped and losing control. Consequently, in a momentary flash of exhausted anger, she harmed Soul.”
Scott said Farmer was “also exhausted and low in mood” from Soul’s “prolonged distress and Storme’s antipathy”.
“He was facing a long workday ahead, as well as the stag party that night – however Soul had again kept him up for most of the night, leaving him tired and irritable,” he said.
“Storme was distressed, barely civil, and excluded him … In essence, Soul was wrecking his relationship and about to ruin his day ... in a moment of selfish frustration, Tony harmed Soul.”
Soul suffered a catastrophic head injury – the result of “a hard impact” – at a house in Burnham on August 30, 2014.
Emergency services were called after Soul became “limp” and had difficulty breathing.
Soul 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 just after 3am the following day.
Police launched a homicide investigation.
The only people at the house when Soul was hurt were his mother, Storme Turany and her then-partner, Tony Farmer.
They split up soon after the little boy died.
Nobody has ever been charged over the infant’s death, though police named Turany and Farmer as persons of interest in the months afterwards.
An inquest is now being held to establish the circumstances.
Over the past week, Coroner Telford has heard extensive evidence from doctors involved with Soul’s death, and about the criminal investigation.
Turany and Farmer will give evidence later this week.
Scott said details about Turany’s family background were “lacking” but her mother reportedly had “a lot of issues” and had been “violent” towards her.
She met Soul’s father Corey Neligan during a holiday to New Zealand in 2013.
Turany did not consider it “a real relationship” and she was unhappy when she fell pregnant.
“It appears Corey was ecstatic, whereas Storme was not, and blamed him for ruining her body and curbing her freedom,” said Scott.
“Corey reported Storme took out all her distress on him and once told him something like ”you don’t want to be with me – I’m not all there.”
Scott said Neligan and Turany’s casual relationship “ended in acrimony” and despite the pregnancy being “unwanted”, she went on to have Soul.
“Perhaps she thought becoming a mother in her own right would negate some of the negative experiences she’d had in life,” he said.
The coroner heard that Turany had a “difficult” pregnancy, and after Soul was born in May 2014, she was an “attentive” mother but felt “low” at times.
“This is normal for young mothers,” said Scott.
“The [Plunket] nurse also noted that Storme had high expectations of herself based upon her own childhood experiences of violence.
“[Her sister] Skye described Storm as an over-the-top mother, and it was hard for anyone to help Storme with Soul. Skye also reported that Storme became very emotional.”
Farmer told police Turany was “very protective of Soul and would jump if he made the slightest noise”.
“Furthermore, she tended to resent advice from him about babies,” Scott read from the report.
“Contact between Storme and Soul’s father remained tense with arguments over Soul’s surname, child support, and when and where Corey could visit Soul. Corey described Storm as a control freak regarding Soul.”
Scott said there was “good evidence” that Turany was “experiencing postpartum depression” after Soul’s birth.
He said Farmer’s parents reported he had “an unremarkable childhood and adolescence with no social, family, or school problems”.
“However, his parents’ reports were unreliable because Tony clearly had problems,” he said.
“He was in detention frequently for repeated incidents of disruptive and rude behaviour in class. He was also stood down from school at least three times … He was reported to be distractible, off task, poorly focused, and defiant.
“By 2008, Tony was described in school reports as unmotivated, uninterested, and immature … staff concluded that Tony was a difficult and fragile boy.”
He said over the next few years Farmer’s behaviour appeared to reflect “a combination of continuing selfish immaturity, mood problems, and poor coping skills”.
He met Turany on the dating app Tinder just two months before Soul died.
“Their relationship was rushed, and within weeks of meeting, Tony had moved in to live with Storme and Soul,” he said.
“I think new relationships cause significant stress – it’s the adjustment to the unknown, the ability to compromise, the ability to negotiate.
“It’s differences, likes, wants, needs ... to reach a compromise, and not feel a lesser person for it, to still feel validated in that relationship.
“In my opinion, neither Storme nor Tony had the maturity or coping skills.”
Coroner Telford heard there was a “dearth of psychological evidence” that informed Scott’s opinion.
He leaned more towards Turany being responsible based on her “early experiences” of having “a violent mother”.
“In my opinion, Storme felt she was losing control … resorted to violence in a desperate attempt to alleviate her helplessness,” he said.
“Soul had to behave on her terms – not his. She had postpartum depression … she was underreporting her level of distress.”
When his evidence was challenged by Turany’s lawyer, Scott conceded that had he been provided with different information from police, or if the information he was given was “incorrect”, his opinion could be different.
The inquest continues.
Coroner Telford has already heard evidence from a number of medical experts on Soul’s death, the head of the police investigation and those who interacted with the baby, his mother and Farmer, including Turany’s sister, a Plunket nurse, midwife and neighbours.
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