When the girl’s biological mother picked her up she noticed bruising underneath the child’s eyes. The next day, when the child was in the bath, she noticed bruising to her shoulder and upper back between her shoulder blades. A bruise was also visible on her bottom while she was getting dressed.
Crown prosecutor Hannah Speight told the jury at the Tauranga District Court the young girl had been picked up from pre-school by her non-biological mother, where another child had tested positive for Covid 19.
When the preschooler appeared “sniffly” the next morning, the mother decided to do a RAT test.
But when she attempted to administer the test, the girl began “screaming and crying”.
“This enraged the defendant who smacked her bottom and thighs multiple times to get her to comply,” Speight said.
“She then grabbed and squeezed [the young girl] across the face with one hand, to forcefully administer the Covid test with the other.”
This caused bruising, which constitutes the injury the mother is charged with “recklessly” causing. The Crown says she behaved in a way she understood could cause injuries to the child, but did so anyway.
However, the mother says the injuries were caused by the child throwing a tantrum and she sent the biological mother a text before she came to collect her saying:
“I had a rough time getting a Covid test done on her this morning with a massive tantrum... kicking and screaming etc. She did hit her face a few times into the ground and couch... She’s got a red face but I’m hoping it hasn’t bruised or anything...”
The mother said she wanted to let her ex-partner know “straight away” in case the child’s face “did bruise”. She later said bruising had appeared but she had “iced it”.
The biological mother gave evidence and said that, after picking an older child up from school, her daughter told her, “Mum made me scared”.
When they got home she saw the extent of the bruising to the younger child’s face and the next day, she’d noticed more bruising to her upper back, shoulder, and bottom.
She’d then asked the child again about what had happened, and videoed her answers, which she’d given to police.
In the video, the girl can be seen pressing her hand across her face - her demonstration of how she got under-eye bruising.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Martin Hine, she was asked if she’d asked the children about whether the younger girl had hit the sofa, which was what the other mum had said happened.
The mother said she hadn’t because she hadn’t wanted to “question the girls further”.
Hine asked about custody arrangements but the mother disagreed there had been “bad blood” between the pair.
Both the injured girl, and her older sister, did police video interviews, which were played in court.
The older of the two said one of their mums had “hit” her younger sister during a “nose test”.
The primary school-aged girl had been playing outside when she’d heard her younger sister “screaming” and had come in to see her being hit by their mum, and a nose test being done.
She said her little sister had been “rolling” on the ground near a couch and had been “sad”- demonstrating a crying gesture. She also said her sister had hit her forehead on the couch.
The trial continues.
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.
