Birkdale baby death: Murder trial begins for Boston Wilson, accused of killing Chance Aipolani-Nielson

Boston Wilson appears in the High Court at Auckland charged with the murder of 10-month-old Chance Kamanaka O Ke Akura Aipolani-Nielson in Birkdale in December 2021. Photo / Jason Oxenham

“I lost control. I just lost it.”

Those were the words Birkdale resident Boston Liam Wilson, then 21, is alleged to have eventually told detectives on the day in December 2021 he was charged with the murder of his 10-month-old nephew, Chance Aipolani-Nielson.

But as his trial began today in the High Court at Auckland, his lawyers told jurors that his actions did not equate to murder.

“On the 15th of December, something went terribly wrong,” defence lawyer Lorraine Smith said during a brief opening statement. “Boston Wilson cared for Chance and on this day he accidentally hit Baby Chance’s head.

“He never intended to kill him, and Boston Wilson never intended to cause any serious injury to Chance knowing that the baby might die. Everything that happened to Baby Chance ... was accidental.”

Police and prosecutors strongly disagree. While no one believes Wilson woke up that day intending to kill his baby nephew, the injuries showed a clear intent - even if momentary and immediately regretted - to hurt the baby, they said.

Baby Chance had just opened his first-ever Christmas present that morning - an early gift consisting of a camouflage shirt and matching shorts - before he was put down for a nap, authorities said. Although the child shared the home with numerous other extended family members, his mother was at work at an early childhood centre and only the defendant was home, playing a PlayStation game, jurors were told today.

The child was still wearing the outfit less than two hours later when firefighters rushed to the home just after 1pm, cutting off new his clothes, attaching a defibrillator and administering CPR after finding him unresponsive.

Firefighter Iaone Job recalled the defendant standing in the corner of the lounge “kind of blaming himself” as the crew tried to save the child.

“The words he used, from memory, are, ‘It’s all my fault,’” Job testified to hearing in the background as he focused on the child and another emergency responder asked Wilson questions.

“I heard that they put Chance to sleep at 12.30. Not long after they heard coughing and checked on him and mucus was coming out of his mouth. Then they called 111.”

Flowers and toys were left outside a Birkdale property shortly after the death of 10-month-old Chance Aipolani-Nielson in December 2021. Photo / Dean Purcell

Emergency responders were able to revive baby Chance, but he died in hospital two days later.

The cause of death, Crown prosecutor Frances Rhodes said, was blunt force trauma to his head.

“Chance’s injuries were not an accident,” she told the jury during an opening address. “It’s deliberate head injuries he suffered, and it was caused by Boston Wilson.”

Wilson was arrested on December 23, just under a week after the child’s death, and was twice interviewed by police that day. Jurors are expected to watch recordings of both interviews later in the trial.

During the first interview, Rhodes said, Wilson insisted he had not touched Chance, but had called for help after hearing a cough and going to check on him, and finding the baby not breathing. But as the second interview began that same day, his story changed significantly, she said.

“I lost control,” he repeated twice, according to prosecutors. “I just lost it - lost control.

“It’s hard to explain. I just lost it. So much stress. Chance was crying. Chance just wouldn’t stop crying.”

The defendant then told police he was on his knees and picking the child up from the bed when he accidentally dropped him, causing baby Chance to hit his head.

But that account of events doesn’t match the medical evidence in this case, Rhodes said.

“That is not what happened,” she said, explaining to jurors that they will hear from at least five medical experts to discuss the 10-month-old’s injuries in detail.

“These injuries are so bad they can only have been [caused] by Mr Wilson in that moment intending to hurt Chance,” she added. “Perhaps he lost it. But he had to have known doing that to a young baby ... was likely to have fatal consequences.”

While murder can be caused by a direct intention to kill, it also occurs when someone takes the risk of intentionally causing injury knowing that death is a likely result.

“It appears Boston Wilson has snapped, lost it for some reason,” Rhodes said. “A killing can be murder even if it is unplanned, impulsive and instantly regretted.”

Chance’s grandmother often helped with childcare but in early December she had to go to Hawaii to look after a relative there, Rhodes said, explaining that the remaining adults in the household were left sharing childcare duties.

Wilson was a father of four. His own children - between the ages of 6 weeks and 4 years old - also lived at the address. He loved Chance as one of his own, so much so he had wanted to adopt the baby, his lawyer told jurors.

Smith asked jurors to pay close attention to her client’s state of mind in the 30 minutes he was alone with the baby before paramedics were called.

“What was in Boston Wilson’s mind in those vital 30 minutes?” she asked. “What does the evidence say about Boston Wilson’s love and affection with Chase and his proposal ... to adopt him as his own little boy?”

Testimony is set to continue when the trial resumes tomorrow before Justice Christine Gordon and the jury.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.