KEY POINTS:
A fifth person has been charged over the brutal abuse of a 3-year-old girl, who remains in a drug induced coma in Auckland's Starship Hospital.
Today police said the toddler may have permanent brain damage after three weeks of horrific abuse at her Rotorua home.
A 47-year-old man
from Rotorua, appeared in Rotorua District Court today facing two charges relating to alleged abuse over a four-month period.
The man entered no pleas to charges of assaulting the toddler between March 1 and July 1 and injuring the child with intent to cause grievous bodily harm between March 1 and July 1.
He was represented by Harry Edward and was remanded in custody by Judge Phillip Cooper to reappear on Monday.
Police have said the girl was the victim of sustained abuse at a house in Rotorua, which one neighbour said included her being hung and spun on a clothesline and put in a tumble dryer.
They said the abuse allegedly happened over a sustained period of three weeks.
It culminated last Sunday when the girl went into a seizure. The convulsions prompted the child's mother to take her to Rotorua Hospital. From there the girl was flown to the Starship in Auckland.
Police said the toddler had "serious" head and abdominal injuries.
The Daily Post reported today that the the girl was allegedly tied to a clothesline and spun around, put in a cold bath and then in a tumble dryer.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper said the extent of the injuries would not be known for some time, and brain damage was a possibility.
"She is still dangerously ill but the injuries are no longer life threatening."
Mr Loper said the little girl came very close to dying and the abuse was about as serious as it could get.
"It is really serious. The poor little thing has nearly died. The abuse is not a one-off or doesn't appear to be a one-off. It is very serious."
Four people were earlier jointly charged with assaulting the girl. Two men, aged 19 and 21, and a 17-year-old female appeared in Rotorua District Court on Wednesday and have been remanded in custody until Monday.
The fourth person, a 17-year-old youth, appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday. He was granted bail and will appear in the Rotorua court on August 6.
The majority of those charged, if not all, had been living at the Koutu address in Rotorua for about six months.
It is understood none is directly related to the girl but one of the men is the partner of the toddler's 34-year-old mother. The biological father lives in Australia.
The arrested 17-year-old woman has a 2-year-old daughter of her own who apparently lived at the same address.
Two other children, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, also lived there and are siblings of the abused girl. According to Mr Loper they were now the subject of a Child, Youth and Family review although they were still in the custody of their mother and an aunt.
For the past few months the mother had been commuting between Rotorua and Te Puke, where she had a job in the kiwifruit industry. Neighbours said she frequently left her children in the care of other adults at the address.
Police had visited the same property on Saturday night to quell a fight at a 21st birthday party, but had no idea at that stage of the alleged abuse that had taken place.
It was only on Sunday, when the girl went in to convulsions, that the mother took her child to Rotorua Hospital and a police investigation was launched.
Mr Loper said his understanding was that none of the children was at the property on Saturday night while the party was under way.
A forensic examination had been made of the house and the inquiry would include DNA testing.
Mr Loper would not say if weapons were involved but "items of interest" had been collected from the cordoned-off property between Sunday and Wednesday.
Asked if the mother was aware of the injuries over the past three weeks, Mr Loper said "they were explained away" by others at the house, and accepted.
It was too early to tell whether the mother would face charges but she was being "very co-operative".
Officers who had worked on the case were sickened by the girl's injuries, he said.
"Some of the guys have kids the same age, and it always hits home."
The property was abandoned yesterday. The grounds were untidy and glass on a door was broken.
An open field over the fence of the property had been clearly used as a dumping ground.
- Additional reporting NZPA
