No matter how ill baby Caleb Moorhead became, his mother would not get him treatment, a prosecutor told the High Court at Auckland yesterday.
In her closing address, senior Crown counsel Christine Gordon said Deborah Anne Moorhead told her mother that in the event of an accident she would not get
medical treatment for any of her three children.
"The Crown says that says it all," Ms Gordon told the jury.
"No matter how ill Caleb became, she was not going to allow medical treatment."
Caleb died at six months in March last year from bronchopneumonia associated with anaemia and brain damage caused by vitamin B12 deficiency.
His parents, Roby Jan Moorhead, 45, and Deborah Moorhead, 34, both of Dargaville, are accused of manslaughter by failing to provide the necessaries of life. They fled the Starship children's hospital with Caleb and went into hiding to avoid being found by the authorities.
The jury heard that the Seventh-day Adventist couple were vegans who did not eat meat, fish or dairy products. They believed that prayer and the herbs and vegetables provided by God would heal their son.
But Ms Gordon said the Moorheads knew Caleb needed conventional medical treatment. Deborah Moorhead had written in a diary that she was worried Caleb could die.
"He was becoming more and more gravely ill," Ms Gordon said.
"They had been trying all these alternative remedies for a long period and they had not worked.
"They knew he needed conventional medical treatment."
As Caleb laboured for breath, the couple debated whether to call an ambulance, then decided not to.
They had indicated they would do the same thing again.
Deborah Moorhead asked the officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Christopher Scahill, if she had previously asked him if there was any law saying conventional medicine had to be used.
He replied that he was not aware of any such law.
When she tried to ask the officer about medical matters, Justice Rhys Harrison said these were questions for doctors.
Justice Harrison will sum up this morning.
