Birkdale baby death: Steve Braunias - Trial for Boston Wilson, accused of killing Chance Aipolani-Nielson

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

“I love you,” called out the partner of the man accused of murdering a 10-month-old baby, when she gave evidence today at the High Court of Auckland.

Darien Aipolani-Williams, who spoke to murder-accused Boston Liam Wilson when the court adjourned for a morning break, told the court it was the first time she had seen him since the death of Chance Kamanaka O Ke Akura Aipolani-Nielson, her sister Azure’s baby, on December 17, 2021.

The baby was rushed to Auckland’s Starship Hospital two days earlier. Crown prosecutors told the jury on Monday, when the trial began, that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. He was alone with his uncle Boston Wilson when he received the injuries.

His defence team of Lorraine Smith and Phil Hamlin say Wilson did not intend to kill or injure the baby, and that what happened was accidental.

“I have not seem him since, no,” wept Darien Aipolani-Williams, of her partner. She said they had been kept apart due to bail conditions.

They have been in a relationship since meeting in the same class in school at 14, and are parents to four daughters. Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock asked how long they have been together. “This will be nine years this year,” she said.

They had lived together in a three-bedroom home in Vandeleur Ave, in Birkdale.

Asked in court if he was “an active, hands-on Dad” to their girls, she said, “Very much so.”

She said they were “keen” to adopt Chance, and bring him into their family. Asked how Boston Wilson treated Chance, she said, “Very much like his own child.”

But in cross-examination, she confirmed she had made no mention of adoption when she gave her statement to the police. And her sister, Chance’s mother Azure Nielson, said in court on Tuesday that she was unaware of any plan to adopt her baby. “Not at all,” she said.

Chance and his mother shared the home in Birkdale with Boston Wilson, his partner, and their four preschool children.

Texts exchanged between Darien Aipolani and her sister after Chance was taken to hospital were read out in courtroom 13.

“Sis, boy is dying he has blood in his brain which means a cracked skull,” texted Azure Nielson.

Aipolani replied, “Me and bos [Boston Wilson] are going crazy because we know we didn’t do anything wrong… Honestly sis nothing had happened.”

Wilson had told her that he heard the baby cough, went into Chance’s bedroom to check on him, and found him white and unresponsive.

She told the court she was returning home with her father from having coffee when Wilson phoned her and said Chance had stopped breathing. He asked her to call an ambulance. When they got to the home in Birkdale, she said Wilson was giving Chance CPR.

“I saw Chance gasp for breath and I took over at that point,” she said.

The trial judge is Justice Christine Gordon. Five medical experts are yet to be called by the Crown, including a radiologist who scanned Chance’s brain, and a brain pathologist who will be asked about the likely force that caused Chance’s injuries.