Two school-aged children in the house where Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie lived were also physically and verbally abused by four of the five adults charged over Nia's death, the High Court at Rotorua was told today.

It always happened when Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, 35, was at work in a kiwifruit packhouse in Te Puke.

Her partner Wiremu Curtis, 19, his brother Michael Curtis, 21, and Michael's partner Oriwa Kemp, 18, shared the same house as Kuka.

Nia's cousin, Michael Pearson, 20, visited often.

The Curtis brothers are charged with Nia's murder and the others with manslaughter. Apart from Kuka, they also face various counts of wilful ill-treatment and assault.

Kuka's two manslaughter charges relate to failing to provide medical treatment and failing to protect her daughter from violence.

The second of two child witnesses central to the prosecution case told today of being subjected regularly to rough wrestling moves by the men, being "whacked", having shoes and balls thrown at them, being sworn at and called names.

She said Kemp made her run a cold bath for Nia who, "shivering" was then dressed in filthy clothes.

Kemp also told a two-year-old in the house to hit Nia. When Nia hit back she got a "whack" from Kemp.

In a lengthy videotaped interview by a Child Youth and Family specialist the child witness - who cannot be named for legal reasons - said the adults made the two older children and Nia clean up all the rubbish outside.

Although the witness was not present when the Crown claims the Curtis brothers fatally kicked Nia in the head on the evening of July 20 last year, the child described seeing the three-year-old:

-- "Choke-slammed" onto the couch and sat on;

-- Held high in the air and then dropped on her head;

-- Having a "wedgie"- her pants pulled right up until it was sore;

-- Undergoing "penalties" which included her head being sat on;

-- Put in the tumble dryer and spun on the hot cycle;

-- Pushed through the sandpit with no pants on;

-- Had her stomach jumped on;

-- Lifted onto the rotary clothesline and spun "fast as";

-- Getting so dizzy that she fell to the ground three times;

-- Having a basketball thrown at her.

The witness said when Nia was crying loudly and the adults were laughing during the outdoor incidents "they (the accused) turned on the radio so that the next door neighbours couldn't hear".

Most of the abuse the child saw was on July 19 when she could not go to school because there was "no gas" for the car, and after school the next day.

When Nia's mother came home on July 20, the little girl told her she was "sore" and begged to go for a ride with Kuka to return a borrowed car.

But instead the witness and Kemp went with Kuka, who said Nia had to stay at home "because she looked sleepy".

Nia had gone to bed by the time they returned and the adults were preparing for Michael Curtis's 21st birthday the following day.

The witness and a cousin later went in to see Nia, who scoffed a drink of water "in 10 seconds" and said what were probably her last words: "My head is sore. I can't feel my arms."

When the witness saw Nia later she was "floppy," frothing at the mouth and making snoring noises.

She "wouldn't wake up" and stayed in bed until an aunt took her to Rotorua Hospital on July 23.

Nia remained in a coma until she died in Auckland's Starship Hospital on August 3.

The witness will be cross-examined by closed circuit television tomorrow.

Expected to run for a month, the trial is in its second week before a jury of seven men and four women.

A 12th male juror was discharged by Justice Judith Potter last Thursday.