Father gives mixed accounts of girl's injuries

Kefu Ikamanu sits in the dock at the High Court in Auckland. Photo / Greg Bowker

A man accused of throwing his 2-year-old daughter against a wall told his wife, doctors and police different stories about how she got her head injuries, a court has been told.

In his closing today, Crown prosecutor Phil Hamlin told the High Court at Auckland that Kefu Ikamanu was so angry at his daughter Seini that he threw her against a wall and stomped on her.

She died eight months later in Auckland's Starship Hospital.

Ikamanu has denied murdering his daughter, injuring with reckless disregard and causing grievous bodily harm.

Mr Hamlin said Ikamanu was looking after Seini and her younger brother at their Beach Haven home while his wife Sela was at work on March 24, 2010.

He later told Sela he had been talking with Seini when suddenly she had a seizure.

"So all of a sudden, she is having a seizure," Mr Hamlin said. "There is no mention of grabbing, pulling or hitting the wall at all."

He told a police officer later that night how Seini had been pushed down the stairs by her little brother the day before she suddenly had a seizure.

The day after Seini was rushed to hospital, Starship's child protection team head Dr Patrick Kelly talked to Ikamanu and his wife about what happened.

Dr Kelly said Ikamanu told him that on the night, Seini had been playing with her brother and went over to the couch in the living room.

Ikamanu told the doctor that he noticed Seini's eyes were crossed. He grabbed Seini and took her clothes off before running her to the shower.

"Ikamanu knew full well then what he had done and he wasn't going to tell," Mr Hamlin said.

"He knew what had happened and he wasn't going to say, even when the doctor was telling him: 'We need to know'. He's protecting himself."

Again, Mr Hamlin said there was no mention of grabbing or of Seini's head banging against the wall.

The following day Ikamanu agreed to talk to police. Mr Hamlin said Detective David Paea picked a teary-eyed Ikamanu up at the hospital.

Mr Paea said Ikamanu told him he wanted to tell the truth and asked about what kind of jail sentence he was likely to get.

"... Ikamannu tells [the detective] he grabbed Seini and threw her and her head hit the wall."

Mr Hamlin said that description best fitted the medical evidence about Seini's head injuries.

But later, in front of the DVD recorder, Ikamanu told Mr Paea that he had grabbed Seini's hand, she fell away somehow and her head hit the wall.

"I suggest to you that what has been suggested doesn't fit at all because he's not telling police the full story," Mr Hamlin said.

He referred the jurors to medical experts who have given evidence that the force required for the head injuries was comparable to a car crash or a fall from a building.

"He has told different versions to different people at different times."

Ikamanu's lawyer Simon Lance will close the case for the defence later this afternoon.