Father avoids jail over baby's broken leg

The father of a baby left with a broken leg after being dropped on the ground escaped a prison term when sentenced in Wellington District Court today.

Richard Oneroa, 42, and his partner Noelette Shirley Mason, 43, were found guilty of wilful neglect following the incident in May last year, with Oneroa also guilty of wilful ill-treatment.

A jury was told Oneroa had grabbed the seven-week old girl about 5.20am and dropped her on the floor while trying to get her into the couple's bed. He then "yanked" her back off the floor.

The couple noticed soon afterwards that the baby's leg was limp, but it took them close to six hours to get her to hospital.

Sentencing the couple today, Judge Denys Barry said Oneroa had a habit of handling the child roughly and he couldn't be sure if the injuries, including two fractures, were not caused when he grabbed her off the floor.

Oneroa had told an investigating police officer he sometimes grabbed the baby "like a rugby ball".

The Crown had accepted the action was not deliberate, but it was "utterly reckless" and irresponsible.

It also became apparent that other family members had warned Oneroa to be more gentle in the way he handled his baby.

Judge Barry said the couple had a list of previous convictions between them, including drug offences and previous notifications from Child, Youth and Family relating to other children.

They had further delayed the trip to hospital by going to a chemist to get a methadone prescription, but Judge Barry said that was not an aggravating factor considering they were likely to face a lengthy and stressful time in hospital.

He also said a factor which went in their favour - but didn't excuse their behaviour - was that the baby didn't appear stressed or in great pain, and hospital staff had not seen the need to administer pain killer.

Judge Barry said the level of care shown fell well short of what was acceptable, and that needed to be denounced.

He sentenced Oneroa to 10 months home detention at his Masterton address, ordered him to undergo drug and alcohol counselling and any programmes suggested by his probation officer.

Mason was sentenced to six months of community detention with a 7pm to 7am curfew, and also ordered to do drug and alcohol counselling as directed.

The defence argued for name suppression for Mason, saying her elder daughter would be disadvantaged in a small community such as Masterton, but the request was denied.

- NZPA