Man denies murdering girl, aged three

Press, 2 June 1982, Page 4

Man denies murdering girl, aged three

Because he thought a girl, aged three, needed disciplining, a man had struck her repeatedly about the head and face' inflicting injuries which caused a brain haemorrhage that resulted in her death. Mr Justice Casey and a jury, were told in the High Court yesterday. Tony Joseph Walker, aged 21; unemployed, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murdering Aroha Hine Pattison. aged three, the daughter of his de facto wife, on September 22. ' There are seven women and five men on the jury. The trial is expected to take at least a week.

Messrs G. K. Panckhurst and A. M. Mclntosh appear for the Crown, and Messrs K. N. Hampton and S. C. Barker for Walker. The Crown is calling 22 witnesses. Opening his case Mr Panckhurst said that about 6.30 p.m. on September 22 the St John ambulance was called to a flat in an old house on a back section in Patten Street. Avonside. where Walker showed them the body of a young child on a bed. There were a number of bruises on her face, head and body and Walker said that

she had suffered her injuries when she had fallen down an external stairway the previous day. It was the Crown's case that the child did not fall but had been struck a number of blows by Walker about the face and head. As a result she suffered a brain haemorrhage which caused her death. The girl’s mother. Judith Pattison, had another child. Sonny, aged' 22 months, and had lived with Walker for about five months at flats in Barbadoes and Worcester streets, and they moved to the one in Patten Street about a week before the child's death. Walker believed that the children’s mother was not firm enough in her handling, of them, especially Aroha. and he took a hand in diciplining them. He told the. police that Aroha's behaviour had deteriorated since they moved to Patten Street and he had had to punish her more. On the morning of September 22. Walker, Miss Pattison and the two children went into town and drew money out of the Post Office and then went to the Labour Department. They met a couple and had lunch al the Post Office

cafeteria and evidence would be given by the couple about the condition of the girl at that time about six hours before her death. She had odd bruises on her face. Mr Panckhurst said. Walker. Miss Pattison and the two children then walked the considerable distance to the Stanmore Road shopping centre. The young boy was in a pushchair. After purchasing groceries they went home by taxi, stopping at a hotel to purchase liquor. During the ’ afternoon Aroha was involved in a minor accident when an Al-satian-Labrador cross puppy was tied to her wrist so that she could play with it. The dog dragged her against a car and she fell to the ground. About 6 p.m. Miss Pattison left to buy tea and at that stage Aroha was lying on a bed and she asked Walker to check on her. She was away for half an hour and got chicken, fish and chips. She went home by taxi. On arriving home Walker let Miss Pattison in and said that there was something wrong with the child. She found that there was something drastically wrong with the child. She was in a state of distress and could not be

aroused. There was blood around her mouth, and her face was covered in bruises which were not there when the mother left to buy the tea. Miss Pattison told Walker to get an ambulance and he suggested that they should have some explanation for the child”s injuriess if they were questioned. He suggested that the authorities should be told that the girl had fallen down the stairs the previous day. When the ambulancemen saw the condition of the child and the extent and nature of the bruising a doctor and the police were called. Late that evening Walker made a six-page statement in which he said that the children were -not properly disciplined by their mother. He described in detail how Aroha had fallen down the stairs. ; Walker claimed that he had heard her scream and found her lying at the foot of the stairs with bruises and a lump on her head. He said that the next day she was still suffering from the effects of the fall. She was unsteady on her feet, off her food and was not talking in anormal manner. Walker was allowed to go home and the following day

a pediatrician examined the girl's body at the Christchurch Hospital mortuary. He was experienced in the field of child*abuse. Evidence would be given by the doctor that the girl's injuries presented the classic picture of those inflicted in the course of an assault arid not by accident, Mr Panckhurst said. He warned the jury that they would probably find the pictures of the child's naked body, showing the injuries she had suffered, distressing. They were produced in evidence not to prejudice Walker but because they were of fundamental importance to the Crown case as they showed the nature of the injuries. The photographs would show that apart from some blood about the mouth and a nasty abrasion on the small of the back there was a notable absence of abrasions and grazes which would have been suffered in an accident. A pathologist. Dr P. Kelleher, had performed a postmortem examination on the child's body and he would give evidence that in his opinion the cause of death was a brain haemorrhage caused by multiple blows to the head. He would say that the injuries were consistent

with blows from the hand and not with those caused by an accident. When Walker was again interviewed by DetectiveSergeant J. A. Ell he was distressed, crying and apprehensive about his position. He was given the usual caution and he told the detective that he knew he had been too hard on the child. He admitted that she had fallen when he hit her. After some hesitation Walker agreed that the story about the girl having fallen down the stairs was false and that he had told her mother to give that explanation. Asked why he had given the false explanation Walker had said that he knew he had caused most of- the girl's injuries and was scared. The child had looked awful and he knew he would be blamed; so he made up the story. Walker made a second statement in which he admitted that the story about Aroha’s fall down the stairs was not correct. It was the Crown's case, said Mr Packhurst,, that Walker told the truth in the second statement that he had struck the girl and in doing so had inflicted the injuries which caused her death, said Mr Panckhurst.