Maketū’s father, Aaron Izett, convicted of murdering his daughter Nevaeh

A jury found Maketū’s father, Aaron George Izett, guilty of murdering his 2-year-old daughter Nevaeh Ager and two other counts of battery.

Izett, 38, has been tried in Rotorua High Court for murder after police found the body of Nevaeh Jahkaya Whatukura Ager on the Little Waihi tidal flats on March 21 last year.

The jury today delivered its unanimous verdicts after approximately 10 hours of deliberation.

The jury had to decide if Izett intended to kill his daughter when he assaulted her
and / or drowned, or was not guilty of dementia at the time.

Or it was, as the Crown alleged, Izett’s “methamphetamine rage” that led to him killing Nevaeh and assaulting three other people between March 20 and 21, 2019.

Crown’s case was that there was no evidence that Izett was suffering from mental illness at the time, and no evidence to support an insanity defense.

Izett accepted that he caused the fatal injuries, but denied that he had murderous intentions.

Last week, pathologist Rexson Tse gave evidence that Nevaeh suffered multiple bruises and abrasions all over her body caused by a weapon or weapons.

He said he could have received 70 to 80 blows to his body, including at least 10 or possibly up to 20 to the boy’s head and a torn ligament in his neck.

The Crown told the jury that after Izett assaulted his daughter, he placed her naked body face down in the water over the marshes and placed two large rocks on top of her.

The pathologist said Nevaeh drowned, but that she could have survived if she hadn’t been placed in the water.

Izett has also been found not guilty of the charge of wounding with intent to cause serious bodily harm, but guilty of the charges of assault and wounding with intent to wound.

The charge for the injuries relates to his alleged assault on Jacob Reid, a neighbor in Maketū, on March 18 last year with a sharp object or a blade, leaving a deep cut on his neck.

The assault charge relates to Izett who intentionally struck Nevaeh’s great-grandfather, John Sturgess, in the face and arm on March 20, 2019, during a visit.

The charge of intentionally wounding relates to Izett who bit the arm of a police officer during his arrest on March 21, but claimed that he did not recall doing so.

Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery QC previously told jury that Izett’s violent assault on his daughter and the multiple injuries inflicted on her were “brutal in the extreme.”

Raftery said that Nevaeh had suffered a “severe reign of terror” from Izett’s sustained attack and that the force employed “spoke volumes” about his intention to kill her.

Defense attorney Julie-Anne Kincade QC argued that Izett lacked the necessary intention to be found guilty of murder and / or should be found not guilty on grounds of insanity.

He said there was evidence from eyewitnesses, medical reports and other signs that Izett was suffering from psychosis, given his erratic behavior and being “out of touch with reality.”

Kincade said Izett’s methamphetamine use did not explain his strange behavior and that there were clearly other things on his mind that were not related to drug use.

She said Izett was “suffering from mental illness” at the time and was unable to understand that his actions were morally wrong.

Izett reported hearing voices, including a female voice threatening to kill him, and was having hallucinations and grandiose thoughts about his wealth and “being a prophet.”

He also told the jury that the defendant had also thought that the police were trying to poison him.

“When you look at all the evidence, there is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Izett intended to kill his daughter, but whatever was going through his mind was not logical.”

Kincade QC said there was evidence to this effect from defense medical expert Dr. Justin Barry-Walsh, a psychiatrist who interviewed Izett in February and July this year.

“Just because doctors haven’t diagnosed schizophrenia doesn’t mean it wasn’t or wasn’t there at the time.”

Izett will be sentenced on February 3 in the Tauranga Superior Court.