The life sentence handed down by a High Court judge this week to a Hamilton father who killed his 8-month-old son sends a strong message to abusers that family violence will not be tolerated.
Justice Geoffrey Venning sentenced 33-year-old forestry worker Charlie Lackner to life with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years, for the murder of his son Cassius last year.
His lawyer Charles Bean said his guilty plea and extreme remorse should be taken into account as it was a ''one-off, momentary, very tragic incident''.
But there can be no mitigating circumstances for such violence against a vulnerable child by an adult tasked with protecting them.
The baby was found in the family home with critical head injuries, the list of which makes for grim reading. Lackner reportedly told the boy's mother Liza Tauira: ''I slapped him, I'm sorry''.
Ms Tauira told the court in her victim impact statement how she had to make the decision to turn off her baby's life support in hospital.
The pain of losing her third child and legacy of that death was evident in her statement.
However strong a prison sentence, nothing can ameliorate the loss, which the judge acknowledged.
But it is certainly important to send a message about this appalling crime, which is all too prevalent in New Zealand.
About 10 children are killed every year by a family member and hundreds hospitalised as a result of abuse or neglect; these numbers far outweigh those of most other OECD countries.
About 150,00 notifications or reports of concern are made to Child Youth and Family each year.
The sentence given Lackner rightly shows children deserve the full protection of the law, and abusers its full force.
Nevertheless, yet again, society must consider the factors that contribute to these needless deaths.
Research has shown, inequality, drugs, alcohol, mental health, social and emotional isolation are all in the mix. But the concern is what makes us so much worse at protecting our children when compared with similar countries with similar issues.
Our first Children's Commissioner, Dr Ian Hassall,
believes it is because we have a ''less secure culture of parenthood'', that we are ''wilder'' and more ''uncivilised''.
As a relatively young nation of immigrants, with a population leaving rural areas for the cities, many families are increasingly isolated - from parents and extended family and traditional community and church networks - and from a society in which many feel abandoned and without a place or a value.
The latter is certainly important, for if we don't value ourselves, we will never be able to value others and break the cycle of violence.
Our attitudes to violence can sometimes seem to be those of a frontier society - on the sports field and sidelines, in the street and in bars. It is little wonder they are perpetuated in homes.
Every opportunity to prevent and condemn such behaviour must be made.
And tackling inequality is fundamental to change. In the past few decades the inequality gap has widened dramatically. It has been a case of ''Paradise Lost'' for many.
Financial inequality has wide-reaching implications. Poverty creates barriers to health and education and social connection. Such divisions can create resentment, anger, despair and desperation; all conditions which are ripe for violence.
Support for vulnerable children and their parents is vital. While we have prided ourselves on our world-leading approach to children's health and education, services are clearly not meeting today's demands, despite the best efforts of many people and organisations.
More consideration is needed about how best to educate and support vulnerable families and more effort at communication between support agencies is required, too.
As a society, we also need to examine the value we put on parenthood. There is clearly no easy panacea. But there must be onus on the individual, too.
Waikato District Field Crime Manager Acting Detective Inspector Ross Patterson said he hoped Lackner's sentencing would show important it is for anyone involved in domestic violence to seek help ''before things get too much and a tragedy occurs''. It is to be hoped anyone who requires such help heeds him.
