Otautau, Southland babysitter murder: Teen who killed boy, 9, to be sentenced

A 9-year-old boy was stabbed to death by his teenage babysitter in the Southland town of Otautau on October 30 last year.

A teenage babysitter who murdered a 9-year-old boy who was found stabbed to death on his bedroom floor by his mother will be sentenced Monday. The babysitter, who was 15 at the time, earlier pleaded guilty to murdering the child on October 30 last year in the small Southland town of Otautau, 40km northwest of Invercargill.

The youth offender, now aged 16, will be sentenced in the High Court at Invercargill.

Interim name suppression orders covering the defendant and victim remain in place until sentencing.

The summary of facts says the youth had been paid to babysit the child on at least 10 previous occasions.

The child's mother had gone out that Wednesday about 6pm for a regular social outing.

She texted the babysitter earlier in the evening and at 10.10pm to check if her son was asleep.

However, the babysitter did not respond.

At about 7.40pm, he'd been seen walking along a street and at 8.20pm sent a Facebook Messenger note to a friend that said "help".

Ten minutes later, he sent a Snapchat message to three friends that said, "What would you do if I killed someone?"

At 8.35pm, he sent a Facebook message to another friend that said, "What would you think of me if I killed someone" and then a second message saying, "straight forward answer".

Sometime before 9pm, he was seen walking south along Riverton Otautau Rd and at 10.30pm, texted his mother to say, "I'm sorry come get me".

When the victim's mother returned home at about 10.30pm, she went to check on her son.

She looked in his bedroom but did not see him in bed.

"She went to turn away from the bedroom, but then stopped and pushed his bedroom door open," the summary says.

The mother then saw the boy lying on his back on the floor at the foot of the bed. He had a large knife in his stomach and he appeared to be dead.

She ran from the house screaming.

Emergency services rushed to the scene but the boy had been dead for some time.

An autopsy indicated the child had been killed within 90 minutes of being in the care of the babysitter.

The child had suffered three large knife wounds to his torso and chest area. He also had marks around his neck that were consistent with asphyxia as well as a moderate head injury.

The babysitter arrived home just before 11.30pm and was arrested an hour later.