Police at the house where 10-month-old Poseidyn Pickering suffered a fatal brain injury in September 2020. Photo / Dean Purcell
What happened in the 16 minutes that a father was alone with his 10-month-old son in their small, shared bedroom that caused the baby to be “gasping for air” an hour later?
That was the question asked today of Anthony Simon Pickering at the inquest into the death of his son Poseidyn Reigns Hemopo-Pickering.
Poseidyn was rushed from his South Auckland home to Middlemore Hospital and then to Starship children’s hospital in September 2020 with a large skull fracture and traumatic brain injury.
He was pronounced dead the next day.
Pickering was later charged with Poseidyn’s murder but acquitted by a jury in 2022.
He didn’t take the stand during the criminal trial and today was Pickering’s first time telling a court what happened in his own words.
September 5, 2020, began as a normal Saturday for Pickering and his then partner, Poseidyn’s mother, Filoi Huakau.
The pair told the court they were heavy users of methamphetamine in 2020, using and staying awake for five-day periods or until their drugs ran out.
After using drugs at other people’s houses, the couple, with their 2-year-old daughter and Poseidyn, would return to Huakau’s mother’s home for a couple of days to come down.
September 5 was a come-down day and Pickering remembered being woken by Huakau that morning, telling him she was taking Poseidyn to visit a family friend.
He stayed home with his daughter and when Huakau returned with the baby she cooked some food while Pickering stayed in their room.
Throughout the inquest, Pickering has been described as a quiet person who kept to himself and liked playing video games.
While the couple were coming down, they mostly stayed in their room in the Manurewa home where the family of four shared a bed.
About 3pm on the day of Poseidyn’s fatal injuries, Huakau popped out briefly to get some cooking oil.
Counsel to assist the coroner Lily Nunweek said they know from CCTV footage that Huakau was gone for about 16 minutes.
Pickering told the inquest when Huakau left, he was lying on the left side of the bed playing Xbox with his daughter asleep at the foot of the bed.
Poseidyn was sleeping near the pillows, to Pickering’s right, until, about five minutes after Huakau left when Pickering said the baby woke up and started crying.
Moving to settle Poseidyn, Pickering accidentally woke up his daughter and the two kids began playing together on the bed.
“Not long after that, they have a scuffle, I hear a ‘donk’, turn, and Poseidyn’s crying,” Pickering said.
He only heard the scuffle and a “solid wood ... donk” sound, but did not see what happened as his eyes were trained on the television, he told Nunweek.
He gave his daughter a “small whack on the bum” for what he believed made Poseidyn cry, which made the toddler begin crying, too.
The father held a crying Poseidyn until the baby quickly fell asleep.
His daughter also cried herself back to sleep, he said.
“When you picked up Poseidyn ... did you feel there was anything off about him?” Nunweek asked.
“No,” Pickering replied.
It only took a “couple minutes” for the baby to settle down and go back to sleep he told the court.
“Anything different about his skin colour?” the lawyer asked.
“No,” Pickering replied.
“Anything different about his eyes?” she continued.
“No,” he responded.
When Huakau returned home, she kissed the baby and the family all fell asleep on the bed until Pickering woke to the feeling of what he thought was Poseidyn pinching his cheek.
“Can you tell me what you saw as soon as you opened your eyes?” Nunweek asked.
“Poseidyn gasping for air,” he replied.
The medical specialists, including an intensive care doctor and forensic pathologist, had previously given evidence at the inquest, Nunweek reminded Pickering.
The specialists had described Poseidyn’s head injuries as very serious, non-accidental and would have been caused by a “very large amount of force”, Nunweek said.
A 2-year-old, like Poseidyn’s sister, wouldn’t have had the strength to cause the injury, the lawyer explained.
“[The specialists] also said that after it would have happened, Poseidyn would have become unconscious very quick and if he did stay awake for a little bit it would be very obvious that something was wrong,” Nunweek said.
“During that time you were the only adult in the room with the children?” she asked. “There was no one else in that room?”
“Yes,” Pickering replied.
“So the period of time when something happened to Poseidyn, do you agree, was between when ... Filoi went and came back?” Nunweek asked.
“I don’t know,” Pickering responded.
“And he never woke up again,” Nunweek continued. “Knowing that, I want to ask you: is there anything else that happened in that room that could explain how he got that head injury?”
“No, I don’t know,” Pickering said.
After the lunch break, Kima Tuialii, counsel assisting Huakau, asked Pickering some questions.
She also zeroed in on the critical 16 minutes when Pickering was “the only adult with Poseidyn” while Huakau was out.
“Do you agree that the injuries suffered by your son were incredibly serious ... [and] that the skull fracture to [Poseidyn’s] head was really bad,” Tuialii asked.
“Yes,” Pickering replied.
She asked if he saw Huakau or any other adult hurt Poseidyn that day, to which Pickering answered no.
“I’m just trying to understand ... how these injuries occurred. Are you able to help me with that?” Tuialii said.
“No, I can’t, sorry,” Pickering replied.
Counsel to assist Pickering, Kingi Snelgar then got up and asked a follow-up question.
“You’ve been asked a lot about the injuries to Poseidyn today,” Snelgar said. “Before Filoi [Huakau] left to get the oil, who was looking after Poseidyn?”
“Filoi,” Pickering responded.
Pickering’s testimony concluded the inquest’s oral evidence.
Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice related stories.