Bridjid Tamihana, 27, in the dock at the Hamilton District Court where he was sentenced to nine years and nine months' jail for the horrific abuse of a 23-month-old girl. Photo / Belinda Feek
A man who inflicted serious and sustained violence on a “wholly and utterly defenceless ” toddler over three months says he has “no real explanation” for why he did it.
In one instance, Bridjid Tamihana punched the 23-month-old girl with such force it broke her tooth.
Tamihana then smothered her with a pillow, forcing it into her face as blood poured from her mouth.
Other times he stomped on her, threw her against a brick wall and poked her eyes until they bled. He also left her floating face down in a bath of cold water before telling a relative who put the lifeless girl in the recovery position “she was supposed to be dead”.
Tamihana, who was living in Huntly at the time of the offending but is originally from Gisborne, appeared in the Hamilton District Court today where he was jailed on 11 charges relating to assaults between July 1, 2022, and October 20, 2022 - when she was finally taken to Waikato Hospital.
Tamihana’s lawyer Michael Lynch responded to a comment that the 27-year-old had justified his offending by saying he had “no real explanation”.
“That’s not a justification. That’s Mr Tamihana explaining that he can’t understand himself why he’s offended in this way.
“If there’s any confusion, Mr Tamihana accepts fully his responsibility for the offending... and that is evident through the fact he has pleaded guilty.”
Crown solicitor Amy Alcock labelled Tamihana’s offending as a “sustained course of serious violence... and the injuries sustained by the victim here were really worse than some fatalities that we see of children around the same age.
“It’s pure luck and good fortune that the victim was able to survive the multiple attacks on her by the defendant.”
The toddler had suffered “significant brain injuries”, most of which occurred without any medical attention being sought.
She was eventually taken to Waikato Hospital once she started suffering seizures.
Alcock pushed for Tamihana to serve the maximum minimum non-parole period of 66%.
Lynch said that would be “excessive” and added that if one was to be issued it should be the 40% minimum.
He pushed for further discounts to be given for his client’s psychologist’s report which detailed his dysfunctional upbringing.
Tamihana also took exception to NZME taking his photo in court, stating he had “genuine fears for his safety” while in prison, but Judge Stephen Clark granted the application.
The offending first began when Tamihana punched the girl multiple times in the face, breaking one of her teeth, and then smothering her with the pillow. She was later seen with blood around her mouth and crying while trying to get out a window of the house.
Tamihana saw her, grabbed her, and smashed her head into the wooden framing.
As she yelled out for her mother he punched her again and threw her across the room.
Multiple thumps and cries could then be heard coming from the house, along with him telling her to “f*** up”.
Another time, Tamihana’s sister found her floating, lifeless underwater in the bath.
She pulled her out but Tamihana tried to stop her. The water was cold.
The little girl was put in the recovery position as Tamihana said: “She was supposed to be dead”.
He then pushed past his sister and dropped his knee repeatedly on the victim’s face, causing blood to spit out.
At 10am one day, the child was calling out for her mother so Tamihana punched her twice in the face. Family intervened and she hobbled away with help from another preschooler who was there.
Tamihana then picked her up by her hair and told her to calm down.
He then bit her right ear, threw her on the couch, and pushed his fingers into her eyes until blood flowed out.
On multiple occasions, Tamihana called her a “spoilt bitch” and gave an electronic tablet to another child in the house and encouraged them to hit her with it.
He also encouraged the other child to hit her with a toy dinosaur. When she refused to, he would do it.
The little girl was later seen bleeding from the gums and struggling to eat.
Another of the wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm charges came after Tamihana was outside in his car smoking cannabis.
The victim tried to get in the car, and he scared her, and she fell over, hitting her head on the concrete.
Tamihana got out and picked her up before dropping her face-first on the ground. He then stood on her back and stomped on it three times with his steel cap boots before picking her up by her throat and throwing her against a brick wall.
She couldn’t walk afterward.
An ambulance was finally called on October 12 when she suffered a prolonged seizure.
The victim suffered a multitude of serious injuries including her eyes being swollen shut, unable to walk properly, subdural haematomas, extensive and severe retinal haemorrhages to both eyes, a bite mark to her cheek, spinal fractures, broken teeth, two fractured vertebrae along with other cuts and bruises.
A paediatrician’s examination said she’d likely suffer long-term consequences from her injuries including visual impairment.
A charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice charge related to Tamihana trying to stop his sister from telling police about the violence she witnessed, stating he would try to get her children taken off her.
Judge Stephen Clark accepted that although Tamihana’s information to the psychologist was self-reported, it was still worth acknowledging with a discount of 12.5%.
However, he declined to give any further discounts for remorse or acknowledgment of what he’d done.
Judge Stephen Clark jailed Tamihana for nine years and nine months on three charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, three of assault with intent to injure, representative charges of assault with a weapon and assaulting a child, along with charges of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, ill-treatment of a child, and wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He also ordered he serve a minimum of five years, or just over 50% of that jail term, rather than the usual 33%, before he will be eligible for parole due to the seriousness of the charges and to “protect the community” from his high risk of reoffending.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.