The house on Ramsey Cr, Flaxmere where a four year-old sustained suspicious, barbaric injuries. Photo / Warren Buckland.
The house on Ramsey Cr, Flaxmere where a four year-old sustained suspicious, barbaric injuries. Photo / Warren Buckland.
Coloured kids bicycles and a plastic Halloween jack-o'-lantern lie on the veranda of the house on Ramsey Cres where police say a 4-year-old was brutally beaten - potentially over days.
On Wednesday a man and woman, thought to be the boy's step mum and father, were observed smoking casually onthe same veranda.
When approached by media they declined to comment.
The brutal beating that police believe the boy received in that house has, in the words of Flaxmere's Henare O'Keefe, "fractured" a community once again forced to confront being thrown into the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
The community on Wednesday organised a karakia to try to pick up the pieces, and pray for the boy's survival.
He was taken to the Starship Hospital in a critical condition and remained stable on Wednesday.
Detective Inspector Mike Foster said the boy was injured on January 29 at a house on Flaxmere's Ramsey Cr.
Detective Inspector Mike Foster is urging anyone with more information about the injuries sustained by the four year-old boy to come forward. Photo / File
The boy's father, stepmother and extended family were present, Foster said.
Foster said on Tuesday the injuries were some of the most severe he has seen on a child in 30 years of policing.
If the boy survived he was likely to be severely disabled and brain damaged, he said.
He said they were the up there with the "worst of the worst" and compared them to the injuries sustained by Hawke's Bay boy James Whakaruru, who died in a brutal bashing in 1999.
Henare O'Keefe wants those responsible to step up. Photo / File
Foster told Morning Report the child's family needed to front up and tell the police what happened.
"We're speaking with the family, there's a lot there that we know we're not being told because this child had some very obvious injuries and we simply don't know how that happened.
"We've spoken with them [the boy's parents], it's the information that's crucial to us that we don't believe we're getting."
He said police worked with Oranga Tamariki to remove the other children from the home and they were now in the care of other whānau.
Flaxmere councillor Henare O'Keefe said the mood of the community following the incident was "sombre, angry and fractured".
"Our hearts are broken and it is time for justice," O'Keefe said.
"But first and foremost, the family need to speak up, step up to the plate.
"In the meantime be compassionate, tolerant, love your children."
He said there was no quick solution to prevent such incidents from happening again, but any possible solution involved the whole community.
"You cannot legislate the answer - good parenting is a good first step," O'Keefe said.
"It is our responsibility, not just the police or agencies, ours. Yours and mine."
One Voice founder Lynsey Abbott organised a karakia for the severely injured four-year old Flaxmere boy. Photo / File
Lynsey Abbott, founder of One Voice Community Services in Flaxmere, which helps victims of domestic violence and substance abuse, said she lived three streets from Ramsey Cr.
She said she could not fathom how someone could do what was done to the 4 year old.
Abbott organised a karakia to be held at Flaxmere Park, play area at 7pm, on Wednesday.
"I am heartbroken on all levels. Hearing about this 4 year old boy who has been beaten pretty much to the brink of his life, I am devastated," she said.
"I can't even imagine what the baby must have been thinking when it was happening.
"To those who have done this, the person or people who have done this, you hand yourself in."
One Voice Community Services is self-funded and is run by husband and wife team Lynsey and Haira Abbott, who do everything on a voluntary basis.
