Baby Elijah death: Mother Melody Ngawhika found guilty of manslaughter

Melody Ngawhika was found guilty of manslaughter today after a week-long trial in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / NZME

A Rotorua mother who suffocated her six-month-old son in the midst of a depressive episode has been found guilty of manslaughter.

For the past week, 28-year-old Melody Ngawhika has been on trial on a charge of murder, relating to the suffocation of her son Elijah Abraham Ngawhika. He died on August 29 last year while the country was in Level Four lockdown.

This afternoon, after just under ten hours of deliberation, a jury of 11 unanimously found Ngawhika not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Justice Pheroze Jagose presided over the trial.

Ngawhika’s lawyer, Fraser Wood, had advocated for an infanticide verdict, saying his client cannot bear full responsibility for the death as she was unwell at the time.

Ngawhika stood in the dock with a support person as the verdict was read out. She sat silently as Crown prosecutor Amanda Gordon and Wood both delivered closing statements before the jury retired in the afternoon.

In her statement, Gordon ran over the facts of the case, which were generally agreed upon by the defence.

Those facts are that Elijah died as a result of asphyxiation after Ngawhika held Elijah tightly against her shoulder until he suffocated.

She then fetched a nearby duffle bag and wrapped the child in blankets, but couldn’t bring herself to place him in the bag.

“But, ladies and gentlemen, she didn’t really know how to do that, and I think the reality is she couldn’t do that,” Gordon previously told the jury.

Ngawhika called the police later the same night, saying “the voices told me to do it”. A police interview between Ngawhika and retired detective Jeff Alpe was played to the jury during the trial. In it, Ngawhika says she was watching television and was “freaking out” thinking that demons were on it.

“All I remember hearing was it was part of a prophecy. I remember being called a Jezebel in my head,” she told the officer.

“This is the first time that has happened. I don’t do that to kids. I don’t kill kids, but I did that to my own son.”

It was also accepted by both Crown and defence that Ngawhika was suffering from mental health issues at the time of Elijah’s death. The defence’s sole witness, Dr Peter Dean, told the jury she suffered from an abusive background and demonstrated signs of psychosis and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ngawhika told Dean in an interview that she had seen demons and that the Government was tapping her phone.

The Crown’s expert witness, Dr Jeremy Skipworth, reached a similar conclusion, saying it was clear to him Ngawhika had a “disturbed mind” at the time.

But the cause of Ngawhika’s “disturbed mind” became one of the key questions for the jury.

While it’s clear evidence points to Ngawhika being in mental distress, it must be proven that distress was the result of childbirth in order to meet the criteria for infanticide, Gordon told the jury.

Infanticide is defined as the killing of a child by its mother “where at the time of the offence the balance of her mind was disturbed, by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth”.

The infanticide law is 85 years old and has sat unamended on our statutes since it was introduced.

Whether or not Ngawhika’s disturbed mind could be attributed to childbirth six months earlier was “questionable”, Skipworth said.

Ngawhika called the police soon after killing her son, telling officers "the voices told me to do it." Photo / NZME

“It’s clear the law and medicine do not match up on this matter,” Gordon said, referring to Skipworth’s evidence that mental health issues are typically the result of multiple, often compiling factors. Gordon previously labelled the wording of the law “from another time”.

Gordon suggested there were other factors at play, including a person who sexually and physically abused Ngawhika, whose identity is suppressed, re-entering her life.

“I am not standing here advocating a particular verdict. I’m not saying you should find her guilty of murder,” Gordon submitted. “It is your job to consider the facts and evidence.”

Wood, in his statement to the jury, said it was clear her mind was disturbed as a result of childbirth.

“It was clear from the [police] interview we saw, she couldn’t really comprehend what she had done or why. She will never be able to get over or forgive herself for what she did. Regardless of the verdict, she will live with the consequences of what she’s done forever.”

Wood said prior to the death, Ngawhika was a “good mother”, with no evidence of abuse, a pantry full of food, and a genuine love for her two children.

“I suspect none of us will truly understand why she did this. Melody doesn’t understand why she did this either.”

She will be sentenced next year.