Parents 'refused vital care to dying son'

A mother and father refused to take their dying son to hospital, even when his leg tumour grew to the size of a basketball, the Crown alleged in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

Peni and Faafetai Laufau, are standing trial on joint manslaughter charges following the death last year of 13-year-old Tovia.

The Auckland couple have pleaded not guilty.

In his opening address, crown prosecutor Mark Woolford said that despite a cancer diagnosis and medical warnings that Tovia's condition would eventually kill him, his parents repeatedly refused vital treatment, causing his death.

When ambulance staff recovered the boy's body from the family home on September 7, almost six months after diagnosis by Middlemore Hospital, he had a 48cm long tumour on his leg.

"There is an important point of principle here," said Mr Woolford. "Parents must have a duty to provide medical treatment for their children.

"You will hear that had the recommended treatment been undertaken, Tovia's chances of a complete recovery were estimated to be in the order of 60 to 70 per cent."

Mr Woolford said a post-mortem examination had found that Tovia's death was a result of the untreated cancer, diagnosed in March last year.

Tovia had been complaining of a sore knee for months before being referred to Middlemore for a biopsy, which revealed bone cancer in his left knee spreading to his muscles and surrounding tissue.

He said Peni and Faafetai Laufau had been told several times that unless Tovia was treated with chemotherapy and a small operation at the Starship children's hospital, the cancer would quickly develop and he would die.

Mr Woolford said Peni and Faafetai Laufau had told police during an interview after Tovia's death that the boy did not want to go to hospital and their church had held prayer meetings in attempts to heal him.

Faafetai Laufau had told police that Tovia had repeatedly refused hospital treatment and had said he would "die straight away and never forgive them" if forced to go.

Mr Woolford said the couple, who had three other children, told police they had not provided any alternative treatments or pain relief.

Ian Tucker, for the defence, said in a brief opening statement that the deeply religious couple were "responsive, loving" parents, whose actions expressed the wishes of their son.

Two Middlemore Hospital support workers, who gave evidence yesterday, said the couple definitely understood the risks of avoiding treatment, despite English being their second language.

A second charge, of failing to provide the necessaries of life, has been laid against the Laufaus as an alternative to manslaughter.

The trial, before Justice Judith Potter, is expected to last two weeks.