Coroner’s inquest begins into Manurewa death of baby Poseidyn Reigns Hemopo-Pickering

A child's car seat sits the Manurewa driveway where 10-month-old Poseidyn Hemopo-Pickering was injured in 2020. Photo / NZME

This article describes fatal injuries suffered by a 10-month-old baby and may be distressing for some readers.

A Starship Children’s Hospital doctor says the parents’ story of what happened to their baby did not match the severity of his fatal head injuries.

Ten-month-old Poseidyn’s skull fracture and brain injury were more consistent with being hit by a cricket bat or a high-speed train crash, than the fall the baby’s dad claimed he heard hours earlier, she said.

Paediatric intensive care doctor Fiona Miles gave evidence today, beginning the coroner’s inquest into the circumstances and cause of Manurewa baby Poseidyn Reigns Hemopo-Pickering’s death on September 6, 2020.

A jury found Poseidyn’s father, Anthony Pickering, not guilty of the baby’s murder in 2022.

Coroner Tracey Fitzgibbon opened the inquest in Newmarket Hearing Centre, Auckland, with a karakia and the baby’s mother, Filoi Huakau, said a few words about her son.

“He was gentle, he was soft, he was pure,” Huakau said.

“I could feel the love he had to give if he had the chance to.”

Coroner Tracey Fitzgibbon at the inquest into Poseidyn Hemopo-Pickering’s death. Photo/ NZME

At the time, Huakau said the boy appeared fine when she left him with his father in their Manurewa home on September 5, 2020.

Pickering said he had been watching TV and heard a bang, which may have been the baby falling and hitting his head on the corner of a windowsill.

Huakau returned home and the family had an hour-long nap until Pickering was awoken to Poseidyn making “grunting” sounds, and an ambulance was called.

“The severity of Poseidyn’s injuries were not consistent with the story given by Poseidyn’s parents,” the doctor said.

The paediatrician said she believed the baby’s injuries were likely to have been non-accidental.

She saw brain injuries like this when a child was “swung like a cricket bat by the feet”, and their head hits a hard surface, or when a hard object is swung with “massive force” to hit the head.

Traces of other injuries found

She also noted traces of other non-accidental injuries on Poseidyn, such as evidence of an older brain injury and a healed broken thigh bone.

“Small children shouldn’t have bleeding in their brains,” she said.

The doctor also testified the fatal injury would have rendered the baby unconscious instantly and she could not believe the parents hadn’t noticed.

“I can’t imagine you wouldn’t know that this child was sick ... this child would have looked badly, right from the start,” she said.

She attributed Poseidyn’s injuries to child abuse due to systemic failures.

“We have the highest rates of child abuse in the world,” she said. “I see, that as a system, that has failed.”

The hearing also heard from Detective Sergeant Mark Jamieson, who was second-in-charge of the 2020 police investigation.

He read details of a scene examination of Poseidyn’s home made the day after the baby’s death.

He noted the home was shared with Huakau’s sister and her partner, their three children, and their mother.

There were a number of blood spots recorded on the walls opposite to the bedroom where Poseidyn was found unresponsive.

The carpets were “extremely dirty” and two glass meth pipes were found concealed in the kitchen.

Coroner Fitzgibbon asked if police hfound no evidence of how Poseidyn had obtained his injury in the scene examination.

“Correct,” Jamieson replied.

Counsel to assist the mother, Kima Tuialii, asked if the police officer was aware of her client’s meth addiction on the day Poseidyn was brought to the hospital.

Jamieson replied that he only met her the following day, after Poseidyn died, on the evening of September 6.

Tuialii asked if there were there any concerns about the statements Huakau had given to police,

“Absolutely,” Jamieson replied, saying there were many changes and inconsistencies to the mother’s statements “along the way”.

When asked if any of those concerns related to meth use, Jamieson said no.

Junior counsel to assist the coroner, Esmeralda Kwok-Cameron, asked Jamieson to confirm that Pickering had been found not guilty of Poseidyn’s murder, which he did.

“Has the police position changed since that time,” she asked.

“No,” Jamieson responded.

The inquest is set to continue until the end of the month, and will include evidence from Poseidyn’s parents and wider whānau, as well as medical experts.

Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and has worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice related stories.