Tot dies after mother gets custody

Lynda Ash and William Hirchkop were jailed for 2 years. Picture / Greg Bowker

A toddler who was in Child, Youth and Family care since she was four months old was dead within a month of the Family Court giving her mother full custody.

For up to five weeks before she died, 2-year-old Kalin St Michael languished with a brain injury so severe doctors said it would have left her in a coma for days. She also had a broken arm.

However, those injuries did not kill her; she died from pneumonia on July 15, 2002.

It was pathologists who pieced together the last miserable weeks of the little girl's life.

Her former caregivers are furious, saying they tried to warn authorities about the danger of giving Kalin back to her mother.

In the Manukau District Court yesterday, Kalin's mother, Lynda Ash, 42, and Ash's partner, William Hirchkop, 32, were sentenced to 2 years in prison for failing to provide the necessaries of life for Kalin.

Judge Sharon McAuslan said the toddler was vulnerable, depending on them for her survival.

"It is hard to believe that any parent of a 2-year-old child with a broken arm would have had no idea," the judge said.

While Ash and Hirchkop, who lived at Mangatangi, near Mangatawhiri south of Auckland, had numerous positive character references and were well educated, she said both were aware Kalin had been having fits because of the head injury and knew of her other symptoms.

Ash's lawyer, Barry Hart, and Hirchkop's lawyer, Kevin Ryan, QC, said it was a crime of "omission not commission", and Hirchkop accepted now that he should have done something to help Kalin.

Kalin was born on April 18, 2000, and had been in CYF care since August 2000. She was first returned to Ash on February 20, 2002.

The Herald understands Kalin had not been seen by CYF before formal custody was given back to Ash in June 2002 and her former caregivers, who do not want to be named, say they tried to raise their concerns.

In particular they say a psychologist employed by Ash to help get Kalin back had a conflict of interest in then being employed by CYF to monitor how the girl responded to her mother having access to her.

"The condition of Kalin returning was she was going to be monitored for six months. She had eight visits and that was it," the caregivers said.

They said they had bonded with the little girl, witnessing her first steps, first words and teething.

"When she first came to us she was so quiet. In the mornings she was the happiest little thing, standing in her cot jumping up and down singing or looking at the birds."

About the time Kalin was born, CYF had involvement with Ash's three older children, from a previous marriage, after concerns about them being left at home alone.

They were placed in the care of their grandmother.

Since Kalin's death Ash has given birth to more two children, who are in the custody of the Family Court.

When Kalin was taken, Ash employed Ms Raethel, who prepared a report which was used to gain access to the child.

Access was first granted in April 2001. Ms Raethel then went on to be employed by CYF to monitor how Kalin responded.

Ms Raethel maintains there was no conflict of interest in the case and she told the Herald Kalin responded well to her mother.

Child, Youth and Family chief social worker Marie Connolly says CYF had no involvement with Kalin at the time she died.

She says the Family Court had been overseeing the case and before Kalin's return Ms Raethel was reporting to CYF.

At the trial Ash maintained Kalin had fallen down stairs. She told a friend Kalin had suffered a stroke which had affected her speech and movement.

She said the child had been taken to hospital.

When police spoke to Ash, after the toddler's death, she admitted Kalin had been hard to wake and had been having fits.

In relation to the pneumonia, Ash said Kalin had exhibited only flu-like symptoms.

At the trial, doctors said Kalin would have been partially paralysed on her right side, blind in her right eye, vomiting and having trouble speaking.

The injury was consistent with a fall on to her head of up to 3m, which was likely to have put her in a coma for a number of days.

They estimated Kalin had suffered the injury up to five weeks earlier and her broken arm up to three weeks earlier.

The morning Kalin died Ash had put her into a bath to try to wake her. She was having difficulty breathing and Ash called an ambulance.

Kalin was dead by the time ambulance officers got to her.


Timeline

* April 18, 2000
Kalin St Michael born.
Two brothers and sister taken into grandmother's care after being left home alone.

* August 2000
Kalin put into foster care by Child, Youth and Family after family members raise concerns.

* April 2001
Mother Lynda Ash allowed access to Kalin.

* February 20, 2002
Kalin returned to live with her mother.

* June 10, 2002
Family Court grants Kalin's mother full custody.

* July 15, 2002
Kalin dies.