Failure to stop son's abuse brings jail term

Jill Tito

A mother's failure to protect her 2-year-old son from "callous, unadulterated cruelty" that included him being beaten around the head with a roll of wallpaper and fed dog excrement made her responsible for harm done to him, even though she did not participate in the cruelty, a judge says.

Unemployed mother of two Jill Tania Tito, 24, wept during sentencing at Tauranga District Court yesterday. She had plead guilty to permitting two men to abuse her son for seven weeks last year.

The abuse culminated in the boy being admitted to hospital with severe head injuries after Harley Mac Wharewera savagely beat him with a roll of wallpaper wrapped in newspaper on September 21.

Wharewera, 20, is serving 10 years in prison after also admitting forcing the boy to eat dog faeces.

Kane Jeremy Tawa, 23, received a two-year jail term for his part in assaults on the boy.

In sentencing Tito, Judge Christopher Harding said she took inadequate steps to protect her son from the men, who moved into her flat in Whakatane and began a period of "callous, unadulterated cruelty" that involved them using her son as "an object, a tackle bag, a punch bag, a plaything".

Tito also entered into a sexual relationship with Wharewera.

Judge Harding said it was necessary to send a clear message about the responsibilities of parents to protect their children, including in situations where they were in relationships with the abusers.

"Your passivity in the circumstances was a clear cause toward what happened," he said. "By doing nothing, you permitted the abuse to continue to its awful escalation."

The judge said Tito knew about violence inflicted on her son and that made her guilty of a "significant and gross breach of trust" as a mother.

"You are responsible for the harm that was done to him ... You failed to take opportunities to prevent things. He was extremely vulnerable and you were aware of repeated abuse, if not the extent."

The judge accepted that Tito had taken steps to reduce contact between the men and her son and reduce opportunities for them to be alone with him, by keeping food away from the house and having meals away with her son.

But he said she "fell under the spell" of Wharewera and became "depressed and disempowered" and was drinking heavily.

"You failed in my view ... to avail yourself of opportunities you could've taken to prevent what happened ... You took steps which were clearly inadequate. You didn't appropriately seek help from your family or your friends."

The judge said the need to address community attitudes to child abuse when sentencing Tito was "manifest".

He referred to a speech by Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro in June 2004 that pointed to New Zealand's position as third among developed countries for child homicide.

Dr Kiro had said that between 1989 and 2002, 162 children younger than 20 died as a result of homicide and 3584 were admitted to hospital as a result of non-accidental injury inflicted by others.

"I have to consider the gravity and culpability of your part in this," Judge Harding told Tito.

Her guilty plea had come late but he accepted that she now looked back on the situation with remorse.

"You did not in an overt sense wish on your son what happened."

A probation report had assessed Tito, whose first child was removed from her care by Child, Youth and Family Services several years ago, as "emotionally unstable and immature" and recommended imprisonment.

The judge said the charge she faced was similar to Tawa's and had the same maximum penalty.

"I accept that you are less culpable than Mr Tawa, but in sentencing you a clear message needs to be given about the responsibility of parents for children, despite those relationships of parents with the abusers."

Those responsibilities also existed in situations where there were "imbalances of power", he said. He considered a starting point of two years in prison as appropriate and reduced that by six months to take into account her late-but-guilty plea.

Tito's lawyer, Roger Gowing, asked for a community-based sentence, arguing that Tito had also suffered significant abuse from the men.

Mr Gowing said she had not taken appropriate steps to stop her son's ill treatment but that she had found herself in a difficult situation.

"She got sucked into the whole atmosphere and attitude of Mr Wharewera, who she fell in love with," he said.

It had been a situation that was easy for others to criticise but difficult for them to understand.

Crown prosecutor Rob Ronayne objected to Tito being granted leave to apply for home detention.

He said aggravating features in the case included that she was aware of Wharewera and Tawa's capability for violence because she had been on the receiving end of it herself and that she severely abused the relationship of trust with her son.

"The child, aged not yet 3 years, had no where to turn ... while she indulged in her own drunken lifestyle and sexual relations with the worst abuser."

It was revealed in court that the boy is living with Tito's parents. He was said to be recovering from his injuries.


Guilty plea

* Jill Tania Tito.
* The charge: Wilfully permitting the ill treatment of a child.
* Maximum penalty: Five years in prison.
* Her sentence: 18 months in prison, with leave to apply for home detention.