A childminder who admitted murdering a 10-month-old baby in her care was today jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
Tiana Mary-Anne Odessa Kapea, 30, was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland by Justice John Hansen, after admitting murdering Jyniah Mary Te Awa last year.
She was also jailed for three years, to run concurrently, for being cruel to the child.
Kapea was caring for Jyniah when she was taken from a Manurewa house to Middlemore Hospital in September last year with a brain injury.
She was transferred to Auckland's Starship Hospital but died the next day.
The court was told that Kapea was a trusted friend of Jyniah's family.
During her short life, the baby was held against a gas heater, swung around by her hair, hung on the back of a wardrobe door and put in a closed freezer several times.
She died from injuries after being kicked, thrown against a wall, shaken and smothered.
Justice Hansen said the summary of facts made "grim reading".
The extended period of cruelty and the nature of the injuries inflicted on Jyniah warranted a minimum parole period of 17 years, he said.
