A daughter described her mother as "a monster" as she told
the Dunedin District Court about seeing her mother beating
her younger brothers with a belt and screaming abuse at them.
The adult sister said her 9-year-old brother begged her to
let him stay with her and her husband, telling her "he
promised he would be good and he wished that she [his mother]
would die in a car accident".
The woman was giving evidence yesterday on the second day of
the trial of her 41-year-old Invercargill mother, who faces
14 charges of assault against three of her children, aged 3,
9 and 12.
The charges include assaults using a belt, jug cord, wooden
spoon, fibreglass tent pole and a jandal as a weapon, and
allegedly took place in Gisborne, Napier and Invercargill
between April 2006 and March 2008.
The adult sister told the jury and Judge Stephen O'Driscoll
she saw her mother "viciously" laying into two of her younger
brothers with a belt, for at least 20 seconds, hitting one
until he cried before turning on the other.
"They [the children] were annoying each other, poking each
other, jumping around. [They were] just being kids.
"She used to tell [one of the boys] that she hated him and
that she was going to crack them. You don't tell a 3-year-old
that."
Earlier yesterday, the 9-year-old child told the court, via
closed circuit television, how he would "run away screaming
because it hurts" when he was hit, and that he and his
brothers would hide when the jug cord came out.
The boy said he was "probably" hit because he was being
naughty or not listening to his mother. The adult sister said
she asked her mother if she wanted to leave one of the
children with her, and although her mother initially
declined, she later agreed to leave the 12-year-old boy.
Defence counsel Sonia Vidal, of Invercargill, asked the adult
daughter if she had contacted Child, Youth and Family because
she wanted to keep her younger brother with her, after her
mother had asked for him to come home, but she said "no".
Ms Vidal also asked her if the alleged incidents she said she
had witnessed did not happen, which the adult sister denied.
When asked why she had not confronted her mother at the time,
she replied: "What could I have said?"
Gisborne social worker Alica Richardson-Marr, who works for
Youth Justice, told the court she visited the adult sister's
home after they rang CYF with a complaint, and interviewed
her and her husband.
According to her notes, neither mentioned seeing the children
being hit with a belt or a wooden spoon.
The initial interview to assess the safety of the children
was her only contact with the case.
Technical problems delayed the start of evidence yesterday
morning and the trial is expected to finish tomorrow.
