Reject family guilt, says lawyer

The sins of the parents should not be visited on the child, a defence lawyer told a jury in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

In her final address, Jo Baddeley, representing Kalina Filimoehala, said the defendant faced a manslaughter charge over the death of Angelina Edwards because she was her parents' daughter.

"It is a case of guilt by affiliation and guilt by association," Jo Baddeley said.

"She is charged because the Crown is trying to visit the sins of the parents on the child.

"You cannot be convicted of a crime because of what your family does."

Moana Leslie Filimoehala, her 52-year-old husband, Mavae Tangi Filimoehala, daughter Kalina Mamata Filimoehala, aged 20, and 18-year-old son Siope Fotofili Filimoehala are jointly accused of Miss Edwards' manslaughter.

A 17-year-old youth, who has interim name suppression, also faces a manslaughter charge.

The father and mother also face second charges of manslaughter by virtue of failing to get medical help for the woman's injuries, general debilitation and peritonitis secondary to a stomach ulcer.

All the accused face various alternative charges of assaulting or injuring Angelina Edwards.

A pathologist, Dr Jane Vuletic, earlier told the court that the ulcer that perforated was caused by the widespread injuries, neglect and malnutrition suffered by the dead woman.

But defence lawyers have relied on the testimony of another pathologist, Associate Professor Timothy Koelmeyer, that the ulcer could have been caused by a bacterium which is responsible for up to 75 per cent of gastric ulcers.

Jo Baddeley said that her client had assaulted Miss Edwards on one occasion to punish her, but it could not be considered fatal.

Miss Edwards, described by a psychiatrist as a mixture of badness and madness, would go weeks without bathing, defecated around the Filimoehala house, had jumped on a puppy and killed it, and mutilated herself by pulling her finger nails back.

With the benefit of hindsight, Jo Baddeley said, it was obvious to everyone that her behaviour was because of her mental condition.

"You cannot say that Kalina Filimoehala ought to have had that knowledge and judge her as though she was a [psychiatric] expert."

Bruce Northwood, representing Siope Filimoehala, told the jurors it would take courage for them to acquit on the manslaughter charge because there might be an expectation in the community for "vigorous" punishment of the Filimoehalas.

He told the jury that his client spent a considerable time away because life was bad at home, which meant he was not in the mainstream of the family.

Siope Filimoehala had told the police he tried to help Miss Edwards to go back up north.

He oscillated between sympathy for Miss Edwards, who he said was treated like a dog, and disgust at the way she smelled, said Mr Northwood.

Any injury he caused was minor and would not have contributed to death.

There was a catalogue of other people who assaulted Miss Edwards apart from the various accused. It was arguable that two young girls, who assaulted the dead woman, inflicted more injury than his client, said Mr Northwood.

"Look at the viciousness of these children. They were equally if not more venomous to Angelina Edwards than Siope Filimoehala ever was."

Paddy O'Driscoll, appearing for the youth with name suppression, who was brought up in the Filimoehala household, said that growing up in an abusive home had distorted his client's appreciation of the effects of violence.

"This is a family in which beatings were ritualised," said Mr O'Driscoll.

The defence did not concede an intention to cause grievous injury when his client "mirrored and reflected" what had been done to Miss Edwards and others and what he had experienced himself.