KEY POINTS:
When investigators carried out forensic testing in an Otara house where a 3-year-old boy was allegedly beaten to the point of death, they found the child's blood on the floors, walls and ceiling.
A jury in the High Court at Auckland yesterday heard how the boy was regularly
beaten with fists, wooden spoons, an oar handle and metal baseball bat after being sent to live with his mother in November 2005.
The final and, ultimately, fatal beating was administered - allegedly by both parents - repeatedly throughout January 31 last year.
A prosecutor told the court an uncle had to persuade the pair to call an ambulance when the boy became unconscious and was unable to breathe.
The youngster was pronounced dead at the Starship hospital the next day, after doctors failed to detect any brain stem activity.
Police said he received at least 50 to 60 blows to his body.
The boy's mother and stepfather - whose names are suppressed - each face charges of murder, failing to provide the necessaries of life (medical treatment) and child cruelty.
The 32-year-old woman and 27-year-old man are defending the charges.
Crown prosecutor Claire Ryan said the boy spent most of his life with another guardian before returning to his mother's care in late November 2005, three weeks after his third birthday.
There were other children in the house he did not know, he did not speak good English and was uncomfortable in his new surroundings.
As a result, he soiled his pants and wet his bed, unsurprising actions for a 3-year-old undergoing a huge change in his life.
Ms Ryan said the response of his mother and her partner was to discipline the boy by hitting him.
The boy became scared and tried washing faeces down the sink or throwing them out the window but was caught and beaten by his mother.
On the morning of January 31, the woman found the boy had wet his bed and beat him with the oar handle.
Later that day, her partner, who had returned from work, beat the boy with a baseball bat.
Ms Ryan said it was clear the boy needed medical help after being beaten, but the couple did not seek help as they feared they would be in trouble for inflicting the injuries and have their other children taken from them.
The boy's now 8-year-old sister said in a videotaped interview played to the court that the boy was also disliked by his siblings for doing "kakas and pisses in his pants'.
The girl - who claimed to have been regularly beaten herself - said she had seen her father hitting the boy "heaps", often with "a steel stick" kept in the hot water cupboard.
Vacuum pipes, a "steel stick" and a "rowing stick" were among the weapons of choice and his siblings often hit the boy as well.
The girl said the boy's siblings often beat him "because he makes us get hidings and he makes us angry".
The beating that finally killed the boy was administered after he had soiled his pants and attempted to throw the faeces out the bathroom window.
"Mum gave him a smack. My dad gave him a smack with the bat."
The mother went off to have a shower while "my dad kept hitting him".
When the boy dropped more "kaka" on the kitchen floor, the thrashing continued.
The boy was beaten with a bat until his body "was getting crooked". When he fell to the floor, his father is alleged to have kept beating him because he did not get up fast enough.
Later, the boy "fell down" and the ambulance was summoned.
The boy's stepfather tried to "fan" him, but the child was just "doing something like burping".
Asked by the interviewer where her brother was now, the girl replied: "In his coffin, he died."
A post-mortem examination found the boy had wounds to his arms, legs, chest, face and groin.
Yesterday, the boy's mother appeared tearful at times during the hearing while spectators who had been in the public gallery later wept and comforted one another outside the court.
The woman's lawyer, John Rowan QC, said in a brief opening address that she did not intend to kill her son or to cause any serious injury that she knew was likely to result in death.
About 30 witnesses are to be called during the trial, before Justice Graham Lang. It is expected to run for up to three weeks.
