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The parents of a baby boy left blind and brain-damaged after an alleged assault have a new baby and police are worried for its safety.
A jury on Friday night found Andrew Wepiha, 24, not guilty of a charge of intending to cause grievous bodily harm to his
then three-month old-son, Ethan Tiaiti, in April 2006.
Yesterday Wepiha could not be reached for comment. He and partner Ruth Tiaiti, 22, had taken their new baby to a birthday party for another family member's child.
Tiaiti's father Tuaine Tiaiti confirmed the couple were living with him and his wife Ngamata at the family's Otara home with their baby son.
However, the detective in charge of the investigation, Detective Sergeant Stephen Nightingale, said police wanted the baby removed from his parents' care. He had contacted CYF on Thursday after he heard about the new child, believed to be about three weeks old.
Ethan was taken to Middlemore Hospital on April 5 last year with brain injuries and bruising to his face.
The High Court in Auckland was told last week that Ethan had two skull fractures, which indicated repeated blows to the head, and bone chips at the base of his thigh bones, above his knees.
Medical tests showed the injuries had been sustained over a period of weeks leading up to his hospital admission and were not the result of one assault.
Nightingale said the matter now lay with CYF. The agency said it had become aware of the new baby and would be meeting the family as soon as possible.
Nightingale said the police investigation was now closed and it had no other suspects.
Tuaine Tiaiti said Ethan had been in the care of Wepiha's mother since the police investigation had begun.
Neither of Ethan's parents had seen their child, now aged one, for that time, although Nightingale said he believed Wepiha was allowed supervised access while the charges were pending.
Defence lawyer Eddie Paul told the court the Crown's case was based on "the flimsiest of evidence" and Wepiha had actively sought medical attention for his son, something a "child abuser with the potential of being discovered" would not do.
Wepiha sobbed after the jury came back with its not guilty verdict after 10 hours of deliberation.
After the verdict, his lawyer turned to Wepiha, smiled and said: "Good boy, you can go."
Police were disappointed with the court verdict.
Nightingale said yesterday that in cases of alleged child abuse in general, it seemed families were losing sight of what really mattered and that was the children.
"All they seem to think about is their own well-being and what's going to happen to them," he said.
"In these kind of in-house cases it's very difficult to get people to help you."
- Additional reporting by NZPA
