Bay of Plenty father on trial accused of murdering 2-year-old daughter

Was Maketū’s father insane when he killed his 2-year-old daughter and assaulted others, or was it a “meth rage” that led him to murder her?

This is the question facing a Rotorua Superior Court jury in the trial of Aaron George Izett, 38, who has denied murdering Nevaeh Jahkaya Whatukura Ager in Little Waihi between March 20-21 last year.

Nevaeh’s body was found on the tidal flats at Little Waihi in Maketū by police called to the home of Izett and his partner Alyson Ager in Tio Place on March 21, 2019.

Izett also pleaded not guilty to three other charges: injuring with intent to cause serious bodily harm, assault, and injuring with intent to injure.

The assault charge relates to Izett allegedly assaulting Nevaeh’s great-grandfather, John Sturgess, on March 20, 2019, when he and his wife visited the address.

The other two charges relate to the alleged assaults by a police officer and Jacob Reid, a resident of Maketū, between March 18 and 21 last year.

During her keynote address, Crown attorney Anna Pollett told jurors that Izett was a regular recreational user of methamphetamine and cannabis and that the hours leading up to the murder were no different.

Pollett said that between the time Nevaeh was last seen on March 20 and police arrived at the Tio Place property on March 21, the girl had been assaulted multiple times by her father, including with weapons.

She said the pathologist would give evidence that Nevaeh had suffered multiple serious injuries from a weapon or weapons, including to the buttocks.

Nevaeh also had injuries to her face and head, including her lips and ears, and received between eight and ten blows. He also had neck injuries that spoke of “degree of strength.”

Pollett said that after Izett assaulted her daughter, she placed her naked body face down in the water over mudflats and put two large boulders or rocks, with a combined weight of just under 80 kg, on top of her and Nevaeh drowned. .

Pollett said the jury would hear evidence from Jacob Reid about how he was allegedly assaulted by the defendant while visiting Izett on the morning of March 18, 2019.

Reid would give evidence that he was hit on the back of the neck with some kind of weapon and was bleeding profusely when he ran home and then had surgery.

A resident using binoculars would also give evidence that he saw Izett in the water on the estuary side of Tio Place’s house leaning against a pole he had placed in the estuary.

“The defendant was certainly acting strange that day and was heard ranting and raving, perhaps about a methamphetamine and cannabis drug,” Pollett said.

Pollett said that when police arrived at the property on March 21, 2019, Izett was naked, had a pitchfork, blew a whistle and ran into the estuary.

After a few hours of negotiations, Izett was shot and during the fight bit Sheriff Andrew McDonald, removing flesh and skin from his wrist.

Pollett said it was “methamphetamine rage” that led Izett to kill his daughter and commit all other crimes, and the intent to intoxicate was still an intention.

“This was assault, assault, assault, before I drowned her,” Pollett said.

The Crown did not accept that the defendant had the defense of insanity, he said.

But Izett’s attorney, Nicholas Chisnall, said it was critical that the jury stay their trial until they had heard all the evidence.

Chisnall said his client did not deny causing the fatal injuries to his daughter and assaulting Sturgess and the police officer, but denied injuring Reid.

He urged the jury to find Izett guilty of involuntary manslaughter but not murder due to his dementia at the time he committed the acts.

Chisnall said that, considering the odds, Izett’s intoxication from using P and cannabis made him unable to understand the true nature of the acts he committed.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.