None of five accused people accept criminal responsibility for the ill treatment and death of little Nia Glassie, the High Court at Rotorua was told.
In his summing up at the end of the crown case today, prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said those charged seemed to accept, by varying degrees, how the three-year-old was treated in the last days of her life.
He said Wiremu Curtis claimed it was all the fault of his brother but Michael Curtis blamed Wiremu, as did Oriwa Kemp. Nia's cousin, Michael Pearson, used to do wrestling moves on Nia but claimed they were not real ones, just "funsies".
Nia's mother Lisa Kuka claimed she had no idea at all what went on when she was at work, Mr Pilditch said.
"We know Nia died of a head injury which was the product of force but not her mother, her cousin or any of the people who lived with her accept any responsibility for the way she was treated and the way she died," he said.
"Some people have not told the truth over the course of this trial." The videotaped evidence of two child witnesses was crucial.
"They were actually there on those days, weeks, and on the day Nia fell into a coma and never woke up."
The two school-age children were not motivated by self-interest and did not attempt to shift responsibility to someone else.
"They are not influenced by loyalties, agendas or self-interest," Mr Pilditch reminded the jury of the evidence a neighbour gave of when Nia and her family were living in a Rotorua one-bedroom flat with the Curtis brothers' father and sister.
The woman said Nia never looked very clean or healthy for her age. She looked scared.
Never saying anything, the toddler would sit at the neighbour's door.
When the neighbour put her hand out Nia would shy away as if she was going to be hit.
The Crown contends that Nia died from brain damage, as a result of being kicked in the head.
"Nia's death occurred as a result of a violent and brutal act," Mr Pilditch said.
"If you listen to the evidence of the accused Nia's death was just some vague accident that no one can specify." He said the jury had to decide how the toddler was treated by the adults in her home and whether her mother, Kuka, "failed her in her time of greatest need".
Wiremu Curtis, 19, and Michael Curtis, 21, are accused of murdering Nia. Kuka, 35, Pearson, 20, and Kemp, 18 are charged with manslaughter.
All five have declined to give evidence in their own defence, the court was told today.
