Ashton Cresswell pictured at a birthday party five days before he died. Photo / Supplied
Warning: This story contains graphic details of violence against children.
Four-year-old Ashton Cresswell was a tiny, vulnerable child who should have been treated with the utmost care. Instead, he died from “shameful” violence and neglect – and yet, no one was charged with causing his death.
By Sam Sherwood of RNZ
Sitting astride a balance bike, a grin on his face, 4-year-old Ashton Cresswell is a picture of joy.
It’s April 1, 2017. Ashton is at a birthday party in Masterton, in the lower North Island. For a boy whose brief life has been marked by endless hospital stays, a party is still a novelty, a treat. He runs around, bounces on a trampoline and plays pass-the-parcel with the other kids.
“He loved it,” his grandmother, Sandra Daley, recalls.
Five days later, Ashton was dead. The cause was deemed to be “non-accidental” head and bowel injuries. A post-mortem found 65 bruises mottled his small body, probably inflicted between the party, and his death.
Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale would later conclude the bruises were the culmination of “repeated abuse” inflicted upon a “frail, defenceless and vulnerable child”.
His mother, Alesha Cresswell, and her then-partner Peter Otuszewski were convicted of neglect, for failing to provide medical care. Yet, no one was charged with the death.
The coroner’s findings pointed to Otuszewski as likely having inflicted the lethal injuries, either through misadventure during rough play, or through a more deliberate act of violence.
But Otuszewski, speaking publicly for the first time, says Ashton’s death was the “darkest day of my life”.
“It is horrific what happened to him. It is unfair what happened to him. But I didn’t cause him to die.
“Every single day I’ve got to think about how people think that I’ve done it.”
Unlike other child deaths, Cresswell’s case was not high profile. His face and name are not well known. But his story still leaves behind a question that Borrowdale, in her 54-page report, seeks to answer: how did this tragedy occur?
Ashton’s medical issues began at birth. He was 6 weeks old when he was diagnosed with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) with a T-cell activation defect, a rare genetic condition which causes life-threatening problems with the immune system.
He underwent a bone marrow transplant at 7 months old, then remained in hospital for almost a year receiving chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
“It was very, very hard.” Daley says.
After his release from hospital, Ashton was fed by a nasogastric tube. The family were monitored by social workers, who said Ashton’s mother took capable care of him during his recovery. Daley also helped with checking the little boy overnight, making sure he did not choke on his feeding tube.
By the age of 2, his health had “significantly improved”, and after treatment, he made a full recovery.
In 2017, the family moved from Woodville to Pahīatua. Ashton, who had a developmental speech delay and struggled to form sentences, did not attend any early childhood care.
He was described as “very energetic, loving and he loved cuddles” and always had a smile on his face, the coroner says.
Daley says he was a “beautiful, happy little boy”.
About five months before Ashton died, his mother began dating Otuszewski.
Otuszewski, 25, moved to New Zealand from Australia in 2015, where he had convictions for contravening a domestic violence order, burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia, theft, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and breach of probation.
The day of the birthday party, Ashton was in good spirits, despite probably sneaking some chocolate cake even though he wasn’t supposed to eat dairy products.
After the party, Ashton went back to his mother’s house. The following morning, April 2, Cresswell dropped Ashton at Daley’s and said he’d been vomiting and had diarrhoea, the coroner’s report says.
The next day Cresswell asked Daley what she knew about a bruise on Ashton’s chest, and whether he had fallen over. Daley said she hadn’t seen it, and didn’t remember anything happening that would’ve caused it.
On April 4, Daley picked up one of Ashton’s siblings to take to school. She had a cuddle with Ashton who “seemed fine”, she would later tell police. She saw him again later that day and she got another hug.
The following morning, April 5, Daley went to her daughter’s house to pick up Ashton’s sibling to take to school. She saw Ashton in the hallway and he “gave me a grin and a wave”.
“He looked fine to me. He seemed to be better from the bug or whatever he had. Ashton didn’t look crook or anything,” she told detectives.
However, Ashton’s 9-year-old sister, who also saw him that morning before school, told police he was “pale and sleepy”.
When she returned home from school, Ashton was lying on a mattress in the lounge, with the Wiggles on TV, she said.
“He wasn’t well ... he was asleep, and he looked really pale. ‘Cos the morning, what he was like, he was awake, he was really pale, he was laying there, just watching us get clothes ready for school and he was really white.”
She told police she saw bruises on her brother’s eyes and arm. He continued to sleep the rest of the evening. He didn’t appear to move, and she could hear him snoring.
The coroner’s report says Daley went to her daughter’s house again the next day, on the morning of April 6. She did not notice anything untoward.
At 11.03pm that evening, Cresswell called 111, asking for an ambulance.
She said her son had gone to a birthday party at the weekend. When asked for her number she said “I think he’s stopped breathing”.
She said Ashton had been vomiting since the party, but “tonight he’s just gone all limp and I think he’s stopped breathing”.
After being asked to return to her home where Ashton was, Cresswell said “... for some reason, he’s coming up with bruises on his tummy”.
When asked to check Ashton’s breathing, she then told the call-taker, “I can hear a little bit of faint breathing.”
Firefighters arrived at the house nine minutes later, at 11.12pm. Ashton was “stiff with rigor mortis, and appeared grey, cold, and lifeless”.
He was later declared dead at the scene.
The first responders noticed “extensive bruising” across Ashton’s body.
An intensive care paramedic believed Ashton had been dead “two hours or more”.
Daley later received a knock on her door from her daughter telling her that Ashton had died.
She was shocked, but not for a moment did she think anything untoward had happened.
“I never thought that anybody would hurt him so badly as he was hurt.”
A post-mortem was carried out by forensic pathologist Dr Amy Spark.
There were over 65 bruises across Ashton’s body, including extensive bruising to his chest and multiple bruises on his forehead.
Her preliminary opinion was that Ashton appeared to have suffered from “blunt force abdominal trauma”.
A neuropathologist found Ashton had also suffered a “significant rotational head injury” that would have caused him to be unconscious immediately.
He said rotational head injuries don’t need an impact, and could be associated with “whiplash-type injuries”.
“The brain twists within the skull [brains move separate from the skull] and that can cause severe brain damage. We usually see this in road traffic accidents, but we do sometimes see it in assaults in adults.”
The professor said Ashton suffered the injury at least 15-18 hours before he died.
In Spark’s final post-mortem examination report dated November 1, 2017, she said both Ashton’s intestinal perforation and rotational head injury were trauma-related.
The bruising on his body was “highly suggestive of blunt force trauma”.
She told police she was unable to distinguish between accidental or inflicted injuries, but if they were accidental the cause of the injuries must have been a “significant accident”.
A paediatric expert found Ashton died several hours before emergency services were called.
“Any history of him speaking or responding in the hour or so prior to emergency services being called is inconceivable.”
Police interviewed Cresswell three times during the course of their investigation.
In her first interview, Cresswell said Ashton appeared fine when he woke on the day of his death, April 6.
Cresswell said she first saw bruises on Ashton’s chest that morning, contradicting her conversation with her mum days earlier.
Cresswell said that while Ashton was happy and walking around, he wouldn’t eat and slept from about midday to 2pm.
Between 5pm and 8pm he was vomiting and still not eating. However, he drank lots of water and was given anti-nausea medication.
“That’s what I don’t get, how he went downhill so fast. If I’d known that it was something else, I would’ve taken him straight to the medical centre.”
In the same interview she told police: “He didn’t even spew today.”
In the hours before Ashton died, he had been in the lounge watching TV with one of his siblings, Cresswell said. She said she asked Otuszewski to bring Ashton into their bedroom as she wanted him to sleep with them so she could “keep an eye on him”.
She said Otuszewski was with Ashton in the lounge for five-15 minutes.
Once Ashton was in her bedroom, he was “just lying there pulling goofy faces,” she said.
“When I thought he was going to sleep, he – he turned over to me and said, ‘Mum, I love you’, and then he turned over and I thought he was going to sleep.
“As soon as I seen that he wasn’t breathing I rang you [emergency services] straightaway.”
Police asked her why she did not get medical help for Ashton earlier, she said she thought it was just a vomiting bug.
In relation to the bruises, Cresswell said Ashton sleepwalked and had fallen over a post on her mother’s partner’s driveway.
Five months after Ashton’s death, police interviewed Cresswell a second time.
Cresswell said on the day of her son’s death, she took her kids to school and went down the road to help a friend who was in a wheelchair.
When she got home, Cresswell alleged she saw Otuszewski smack Ashton’s hand hard, after the 4-year-old cracked a window with a hairbrush.
She claimed that after smacking Ashton, Otuszewski lifted him up off his feet and was “going nutty at him”.
Ashton appeared “terrified”, she said. She said she grabbed Ashton and said, “how dare you hit my son”.
“I just wish I knew he was like that, eh, I wouldn’t have had him around my kids.” she told police.
She said that between 12pm and 3pm she called a friend to ask to get a lift to the hospital because Ashton was vomiting. She said the Pahīatua medical centre was “useless”.
“I wanted to get him checked over. The medical centre here, I took him up and they were too busy, they couldn’t see him.”
The medical centre provided evidence that Cresswell made no attempt to contact them during April 2017, but if she had, doctors would “unquestionably” have seen him, they said.
The friend would later tell police Cresswell did not call her.
As in her first interview, she said Otuszewski was in the lounge with Ashton for 5-15 minutes before bringing him into their room.
“Ashton gave me a cuddle ... he put his arms around me, said “Mum, I love you,” turned over and that’s when I noticed he wasn’t breathing properly.
“Like his breathing was, his chest was like sucking it in. It’s, yeah, it was - there was something wrong.”
She claimed Otuszewski hid her cellphone so she couldn’t call emergency services. She eventually found it and rang for help.
“He snatched the phone off me and started talking to them and the lady on the phone was - told him to give me back the phone because I was doing CPR on him and she was trying to tell me what to do.”
The coroner said the audio recording of the call revealed Otuszewski did not take her phone and talk to the call taker.
Cresswell said she did not know where Ashton’s bruises came from, but said she thought it was from him “running into things”.
“I just feel so ratshit. I’m his mother, I should’ve been, I should’ve known something was going on, but I didn’t. All his bruises, I just thought it was from him falling down the stairs and running into stuff.”
During a third interview with police in May 2018, Cresswell was asked about the 65 bruises on his body. She said she thought they were due to his “clumsiness”.
She was once again asked why she did not get help for Ashton earlier.
“[Otuszewski] had my phone when I went to, I wanted to ring the first time and he wouldn’t give it to me, it was when he, I woke up and Ashton was hardly breathing and he, I felt his body cold, that he finally gave me the phone. He had my phone underneath the mattress on his side of the bed, he wouldn’t give it to me.”
The coroner says Cresswell then “asserted her right to give no further information to police”.
Otuszewski was also interviewed three times.
In his first interview, he said Ashton had been unwell but was “a little bit energised” and was active on the day of his death.
He said Ashton had a fever and was vomiting in the days after the party. He claimed they noticed Ashton was coming up with “a lotta bruises” two days before he died.
Otuszewski said the bruises appeared to go away, but on the evening of April 5 (the day before Ashton died) “it seemed like they were just coming back”.
In relation to the incident with the hairbrush. Otuszewski said he gave Ashton a “little tap on the hand”.
He denied that he spent any time alone with Ashton that day, aside from a few minutes in the shower.
He denied taking Ashton from the lounge to the couple’s bedroom, and said Cresswell took him.
“I got up to put a movie on through the TV, and [Cresswell] looked at me and I looked at Ashton and I noticed his mouth was moving, my brother had seizures a lot so I know what they look like. I jumped on the bed and checked him. I just told [Cresswell] to call the ambulance.”
He said Ashton was still breathing when they called an ambulance, however his lips had lost colour.
He said Ashton was not dead before the 111 call.
“I’m telling the honest truth. He wasn’t deceased, he was talking and everything way before that.”
At his second interview, Otuszewski said he had not play-wrestled with Ashton after the birthday party, as he had been unwell.
He said the day before his death Ashton was “not enthusiastic”.
“Ashton just wanted [Cresswell], you know, that last week ... he just wanted [Cresswell] for everything.”
He said on the day of Ashton’s death the couple “sat down watching TV, smoking cannabis and oils” for most of the day.
Ashton became more unwell from about midday. He was put to bed and seemed tired but wouldn’t go to sleep.
He said Cresswell left the house to get another tinny of cannabis, leaving Otuszewski alone with the children.
He said he gave Ashton a bath while Cresswell was getting the cannabis and saw more bruises on him.
Ashton was “quite limp ... he just acted real lazy”.
After the bath, Ashton was put back in bed and the couple “had our next tinny”.
He had no explanation for the brain injury.
“I’m not going to lie about killing my own boy, ‘cos I didn’t do it. I didn’t hurt him. I didn’t play wrestling with him for weeks. Probably a little push and all that, but he never hit his head.”
Detectives interviewed Otuszewski again in May 2018. Police quizzed him about Ashton potentially dying hours before the 111 call.
“I’m gonna strongly sit here and say that he still spoke 5, 10 minutes before she called and I’m not lying about that, he really did say I love you mum,” he said.
“We went and got him from the mattress [in the lounge], brought him into the bedroom and then he ... said something like I loved you and then, and then I just seen his lips twitching and he started turning purple but his eyes was open and he said something in the bedroom between the time we moved him from the lounge room to the bedroom.”
As part of the police investigation, detectives spoke to some of Otuszewski’s former partners.
The coroner says the investigation revealed a “recent history of violent behaviour”.
“Witness statements to Police recorded that Mr Otuszewski had physically and verbally assaulted previous partners, one while she was pregnant with his child.”
The coroner said there was evidence of Otuszewski “becoming angry at or violent” towards Cresswell’s children.
The coroner said Ashton’s sister, then 9, told police Ashton was “scared of Peter” and “hated” him.
She told police about an alleged incident about a week before Ashton died when he put him inside a shopping trolley and pushed it “really hard”, causing it to crash into a gatepost and fall over.
Ashton was “screaming, crying” and suffered a bump on his head and a black eye.
Daley told police she thought Otuszewski was good with the kids but was “so rough when they played”.
In her second interview with police Cresswell said she’d told him she didn’t like the rough play.
“And every time we’d tell him not to, he’ll just laugh and walk away and then about 10, 15 minutes later he’s doing the same thing.”
Cresswell and Otuszewski were jointly charged with manslaughter in May 2018. The charge alleged that, without lawful excuse, the pair neglected their legal duty to provide Ashton with the necessities of life.
The pair would later plead guilty to reduced charges of neglect of a child, through failure to provide Ashton’s medical needs.
At sentencing in August 2019, Justice Christine Grice told Cresswell Ashton was “completely defenceless and totally dependent” on her.
Cresswell’s evidence was “riddled with inconsistencies”.
“You say you had no knowledge of the abuse he suffered. Well, objectively that cannot be right. You have told a number of stories about why it happened, how it happened and why you are not to blame.”
Cresswell was sentenced to three years, 11 months’ imprisonment. Otuzsewski was jailed for four years and one month.
Coroner Borrowdale opened an inquiry in 2021.
She said the criminal prosecution did not identify all of the material facts about how Ashton died.
She asked both Cresswell and Otuszewski whether they had any further information to provide.
Cresswell indicated she wanted to provide a written statement, which never came.
Borrowdale said the disputed elements remaining were how Ashton suffered the fatal injuries, when, and who inflicted them.
She viewed three videos filmed by one of the couple’s friends in December 2016, showing Otuszewski “playing roughly” with Ashton.
“The videos make for disturbing viewing in light of subsequent events.”
She said Otuszewski was “totally focused on physically playing” with Ashton.
“Ashton clamoured insatiably for more and more play. He can be seen giggling and laughing, and returning each time to Mr Otuszewski. However, the play itself was objectively highly dangerous.”
In each of the videos, Otuszewski would pick Ashton up and throw him from a height on to a double bed.
The videos were reviewed by a neuropathologist who said it was “certainly possible” the type of play seen in the videos “could have resulted in a significant rotational head injury”.
The coroner had a lengthy list of “findings of fact”, based on the evidence applying the “balance of probabilities standard of proof”.
The findings included that Ashton died from injuries sustained in a “violent and traumatic event or series of events” while in the couple’s care.
In applying the standard of proof, she found that the fatal injuries suffered by Ashton were “likely inflicted by Mr Otuszewski”.
“Either by misadventure during the course of rough, wrestling-type play or by otherwise striking, throwing, or pushing Ashton against a surface with enough force to cause his fatal injuries. There is ample evidence supporting both of these scenarios.
“Mr Otuszewski had a history of violence, and of sudden, angry, physical outbursts. Ashton was fearful of him, and Mr Otuszewski had been seen to yell in his face, lift him off his feet in anger, smack him hard on the hand and back, and to throw him.”
She found it was “much less likely” Cresswell was responsible for the fatal injuries.
“While it is possible that Ms Cresswell did not know how Ashton’s injuries had been caused, I am satisfied that she knew that Mr Otuszewski had caused them and when they had been inflicted.”
The coroner found that most of the 65 bruises on Ashton’s body were caused between April 3-6.
“I therefore find that the couple’s emphasis to emergency responders on the sudden number and darkness of Ashton’s bruises was an attempt to front-foot and explain a pattern of abuse.”
She believed it was “likely” Ashton suffered his fatal injuries on April 5, and that he died early on April 6.
“In my assessment, Ms Cresswell and Mr Otuszewski concocted a false account of events to conceal that Mr Otuszewski had fatally injured Ashton and that he had died while in their care, without receiving any medical help, while they were using cannabis.”
After Otuszewski was released from jail, he was deported to Australia.
In an interview with RNZ, he said Ashton was a “sweet little boy”.
“That kid was the Superman, like he was just unbelievable.”
Looking back Otuszewski, now 33, says his biggest issue was the amount of marijuana he was smoking. He started smoking when he was 8 after his dad died, adding it was “the only thing that calmed me down”.
“I’ve blamed everything on weed to be honest,” he says.
“I didn’t really want to do anything. I just wanted to sit at home. I just wanted to watch TV, play a game. I chose that over food or my bills. I chose weed over everything.”
He says he had little to do with Ashton in the days before his death, as he constantly wanted his mum.
“All I did on the last maybe week of him passing away, was wanting to play my game, wanting to watch a movie, and wanting to have cones. That was, that was completely it. I didn’t want anything else.”
He says Ashton was a little sick on the morning of April 6. He wasn’t eating and was eventually put into bed.
The last time he recalls being alone with Ashton was when Cresswell left the home before it got dark.
“He was in bed ... and he was just lethargic.”
He claims he first noticed bruising on Ashton when he gave him a bath.
Asked about the five-15 minute window Cresswell says he was with Ashton in the lounge, he now admits that he did bring Ashton in from the lounge to the couple’s bedroom.
However, he says he was “definitely not 15 minutes”.
“I went from the bedroom on one side of the house, I walked up the hallway to where the lounge room was ...The middle child was there as well. Ashton was crying and screaming. He had purple lips. I reckon it would have been maybe three minutes that I picked him up and ... I took him straight in to Alesha on the bed.”
Otuszewski, who has not read the coroner’s report, disputes the evidence suggesting Ashton was already dead when the 111 call was made.
“I swear and I will stick to this until the day I die. He was crying within minutes of us calling ... he had blue lips, 100 per cent he had blue lips. He was moving his eyes, and his fingers were still moving.”
He can’t recall whether Ashton said “love you”.
“I have blanked a lot of that out of my life ... All I remember is, you talking about that right now, is them, me at the end of the bed with the phone in my hand, Alesha looking at Ashton with the purple lips, and then I vaguely remember her saying, I love you too.”
He was unable to explain how Ashton could have suffered the fatal injuries at least 15 to 18 hours before he died.
He says he grew up watching wrestling on TV. When his son was about 1, he would do some “tiny little wrestling” with him, and he “absolutely loved it”. He did the same with Ashton and his brother.
“Maybe the wrestling was a bit rough, I don’t know, but at the end of the day, they laughed, they giggled about it.”
Asked about the videos referenced by the coroner, Otuszewski says Ashton “enjoyed all of that”.
“If he ever cried or didn’t want to do it again, he would jump off the bed. That was the end of that. I would go make sure he’s okay. He’d sit down play with his toys, then I would leave him alone.”
He said he did not play that way with Ashton on the day he died, or the day before.
“He was too sick.”
He admitted he “may have gotten angry at the kids” for doing something wrong at times, but he was never violent.
“The coroner can say what they want, but I can guarantee you one thing - I’ve never and never, nor will I ever, hurt a kid or another human in my whole goddamn life.”
Asked if he caused Ashton’s death, Otuszewski said “no, not at all. Not from my knowledge”.
“I have not done anything to cause that. I mucked around with him the same I would my own child, and he loved it, and he’s still walking around today. Unfortunately, Ashton’s not, and I am terribly sorry about that, but the way I mucked around with him is the exact same way I mucked around with my son.”
Eight years on, he says he doesn’t like being near children. When his partner’s friends come to visit with their kids he leaves the house.
“Because I feel like everyone just blamed me. That’s the whole reason I took the plea deal is because I just felt like everything was just pointing at me, I was getting the blame for everything.
“So in my mind, right now, you know, I feel like I have done it. They’ve convinced me enough to the point where I feel like I’ve done something, and I don’t know what I’ve done, but I have.”
He says he arrived in Australia with nothing on his back. He now has a job and is no longer taking drugs. His partner has also moved over to live with him.
He calls Asthon’s’ death the “darkest day of my life”.
“Every day when I think about that time of my life, I got to think about ... Why didn’t I just walk him down to the doctors myself?” he says.
“Why didn’t I step up? Why? Why couldn’t I do something? Why couldn’t I take him to the doctor like I would my own child? Why? Why? Why did I choose drugs over a family. Every day, every day, I have regrets on stuff that I could have done, but I didn’t.”
Near the bottom of Coroner Borrowdale’s report, she says Ashton Cresswell was not a name “well-known to New Zealanders”.
“No one was convicted of causing the non-accidental injuries that led to his death. No Government or support agency was involved in the protection of Ashton and his siblings from child abuse.
“Ashton was not attending any pre-school when he died. No one who had contact with Ashton, his mother, or her short-term partner foresaw that Ashton’s life was at risk … no one saw what was coming.”
Borrowdale made damning remarks in relation to the couple’s attempted explanations of Ashton’s injuries.
“Ashton was ‘careless’ and ‘clumsy’ because he was tiny, vulnerable, and had developmental delays.
“These characteristics ought to have led to Ashton being treated with kid gloves, receiving even more protection and care than an ordinarily robust 4-year-old. It was grotesquely self-serving of his parent and caregiver, who I find were responsible for his death and its concealment, to have excused their violence and neglect by reference to Ashton’s frailties.”
The coroner made several recommendations including that Oranga Tamariki (OT) should “more widely and effectively” publicise the risk factors for child abuse and that OT should publish guidance and resources for caregivers on “rough play” and the risks to children of drug use.
She concluded by saying Ashton’s death was a “tragedy”.
“It is shameful that Ashton died violently and prematurely, in his home and due to the actions - and inactions - of the people who were entrusted with his care and safety. I offer my sincere condolences to those who knew and loved Ashton.”
Central District manager of criminal investigations Inspector Craig Sheridan told RNZ in a statement police conducted a “full and thorough” criminal investigation following Ashton’s death.
Police were obligated to consider any potential charges in accordance with the Solicitor General’s Prosecution Guidelines. This means they must be satisfied there is a “reasonable prospect of conviction, based on the available evidence”.
“This is, quite rightly, an extremely high threshold.”
The evidence supported the resulting charges of neglect, he said.
“Police acknowledge the Coroner’s findings in relation to Ashton’s tragic and entirely avoidable death.”
He said there was no ongoing investigation.
Eight years on from Ashton’s death, his grandmother says it’s “frustrating” Otuszewski was not charged with causing Ashton’s death.
“They couldn’t find any proof ... but they did a good job. They did what they could do.”
She says Cresswell has had three more children since then, and has a “very good partner” who treats her well.
Daley has photos of Ashton “everywhere” in her home, as well as the playhouse he could often be seen playing in, and some of his toys.
She recently gave his urn to his older sister who now has her brother in her bedroom where she talks to him.
Daley misses the little boy dearly.
“I can’t really talk about Ashton to anybody because I get too upset.”
Instead, she thinks back to the day of the birthday party, seeing the little 4-year-old on the balance bike with a smile across his face.
“That was our last good memory of him.”
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