Kelly Makiha: I'm disgusted and ashamed Ferro-James was murdered in our beautiful city

Ferro-James Sio was murdered by his father. Photo / Supplied

OPINION

It's the little things that stick in your mind and make a deep sadness that much worse.

If you have read the story about the horrifying and cruel death of 5-year-old Ferro-James Sio, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Details have been made public about what his father, William James Sio, and his girlfriend, Leza Rawiri, put the boy through.

William James Sio in the High Court at Rotorua for sentencing. Photo / Andrew Warner

Sio, 25, was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua on Friday to life imprisonment with 17 years' non-parole after previously admitting a range of charges including murdering his son, abusing him and ill-treating him.

Rawiri, 29, has admitted charges relating to ill-treating and neglecting Ferro-James, assaulting him and failing to get medical care. She will be sentenced at a later date.

At the hearing, Justice Ian Gault read out the police's summary of facts which detailed the 16 months of cruel treatment the little boy endured.

On February 8 last year, he was beaten by his father in a cramped room in emergency accommodation in Rotorua and was kicked so severely it literally took his breath away.

The kicks were so hard, the internal bruising was similar to "bleeding out".

The little boy was holed up in that tiny room alongside the two people who should have been caring for him.

A car parked outside the Rotorua Courthouse. Photo / Andrew Warner

Instead, Rawiri told police she was asleep while Sio was slowly killing him.

All of that is bad. It's horrific. It makes you gasp: how someone could do that to anyone, let alone a defenceless child?

But this is what I can't stop thinking about: Ferro-James was cold and limp - probably already dead - when they wrapped him in a blanket and drove him to hospital.

He lay in the backseat by himself while they sat in the front.

He was alone.

There are so many questions that remain unanswered around that wee boy's killing.

For now, Government departments say they can't answer these questions because his death is still the subject of a coronial process.

Some of Ferro-James' family members wore these T-shirts to the sentencing. Photo / Andrew Warner

I'm not only sad at what happened to Ferro-James, I'm ashamed this happened in the beautiful city we call home.

There's a housing crisis, people are stressed, some are violent.

A child has died in our city. This will never be okay.