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Warning: contains graphic content
The boy who was found dead in the Little Waihi estuary had been subjected to at least eight, and perhaps up to 20, blows to the head before he was drowned.
That’s according to forensic pathologist Dr. Rexson Tse, who testified in Rotorua Superior Court, where the girl’s father, Aaron George Izett, is charged with her murder.
Izett also faces a series of assault and battery charges.
On the first day of the trial, he admitted that he killed his daughter, Neveah Ager, between March 20 and 21 of last year.
Benn Bathgate / Stuff
The body of a two-year-old boy was discovered in the mudflats behind Tio Place in Little Waihi.
However, defense attorney Nicholas Chisnell claimed that his client should be found innocent on the grounds of insanity.
However, the Crown alleged that Izett, a habitual methamphetamine user, killed his daughter in a “methamphetamine attack” after assaulting her with a weapon or weapons and then placing her in the estuary behind his home to drown.
Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett said the girl had been subjected to “assault for assault for assault” before she drowned.
Before Tse took the witness stand on Wednesday, Judge Christine Gordon QC granted permission for Izett to withdraw from court prior to the pathology evidence, then told jurors that they “shouldn’t read anything at all ”.
Benn Bathgate / Stuff
Aaron George Izett on the Rotorua pier.
He also warned them about a photo book that would accompany Tzu’s evidence.
“It will not be easy to listen to the evidence of the pathology and see the photographs.”
Over the course of about an hour and under questioning by Crown Prosecutor Kieran Raftery QC, Tse spoke about a litany of injuries to Nevaeh’s head, neck, body, limbs and buttocks.
Raftery would ask Tse to comment on each particular injury photographed, more than 65 in all.
Then Tse explained whether the photo was a bruise, abrasion, laceration, or a sign of internal bleeding, and described its size.
When asked how many blows were inflicted on the boy’s head, he said “at least eight to ten.”
“If you see the head as a cube, there are six surfaces, there are injuries on all surfaces.”
When asked what the maximum number of strokes might have been, he said it would “go up to 20.”
In all, he said the two-year-old could have been beaten up to 70 times.
Tse said she couldn’t say for sure if Nevaeh was unconscious when she was placed in the water behind her Little Waihi home, where she drowned.
ESR forensic scientist Dr. Helen Poulson also provided evidence, confirming that tests on Izett’s blood and urine detected samples of methamphetamine and cannabis.
On Tuesday, the jury of seven men and five women also heard from Officer Michelle Attrill, the first police officer on the scene.
He collapsed on the witness stand when he described seeing the body of Izett’s daughter, Nevaeh Ager, aged two.
The jury was also shown a film of his Taser showing Izett standing in a puddle of water and gasoline, holding a pitchfork and blowing a whistle.
He was also naked.
“At one point, he took a big step towards me, holding the hairpin and looking me in the eye telling me he was going to kill me,” he said.
The court was also shown a Taser video from another officer of the moment Izett was shot, twice.
At that moment, Izett leaned forward on the witness stand and smiled widely as the video was shown.
He was able to get back on his feet after being hit with a pistol, and he retreated to the estuary behind his house.
As the police waited on land, the water began to recede, revealing the boy’s body.
“We noticed her, the foot,” Attrill said.
“Once we noticed the foot … the water.”
Attrill then stopped, appeared to try to catch his breath, and wiped his eyes, before telling the court that he saw Nevaeh’s head and hair submerged, surrounded by red, cloudy water.
The trial continues.
