Surender Mehrok, Tauranga Man, Imprisoned for ‘Baby Royal’ Manslaughter

“If it weren’t for my other kids, I wouldn’t be here right now. I’d be locked up or two meters underground.”

This is the chilling comment made by Nikita Winiata, the Tauranga mother of 14-week-old Richard Royal Arif Te Kakahi Winiata Uddin, who died at the hands of Surender Mehrok.

It was part of the Winiata victim’s impact statement read by Crown Prosecutor Justine Sutton in Tauranga High Court yesterday during Mehrok’s re-sentencing hearing.

Baby Royal, as he was known, died after sustaining massive head injuries caused by Surender Singh Mehrok on June 7, 2016 while boarding in the same Avenues address.

Mehrok, now 24, admitted to causing the fatal injuries, but denied that he intended to kill the baby, claiming it was a manslaughter case, not murder.

The 14-week-old boy died while his mother and friends went out to eat pizza for themselves and their children. They were out of the house for just over 30 minutes, returning to find Baby Royal covered in vomit and lifeless.

At his first trial in July 2017, Mehrok was found guilty of murdering Baby Royal and sentenced to life in prison with a period of 14 years and six months without parole.

He appealed the murder conviction and in a second trial in Hamilton Superior Court in August was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Evidence from a 5-year-old boy who saw Baby Royal get injured played a key role for the jury tasked with deciding his verdict.

The boy’s evidence was that he saw Mehrok throw Baby Royal onto the bed and then bang his head against the wall.

Crown’s medical experts confirmed Baby Royal’s skull was shattered by the force of the assault and one said her skull “cracked like an egg,” the court heard.

There were also several bruises on the boy’s body.

Defense medical experts gave evidence that the baby’s death was the result of a “single massive impact.”

Winiata said she had fallen into depression since her son’s death, which led her to take drugs and drink alcohol to try to numb the pain and was making poor decisions.

He said it had taken him four years to find the courage to take counseling, the court heard.

“I haven’t been the same since the retrial. I’m having memories of Baby Royal’s head.”

Winiata said she also had trouble sleeping and struggled to eat and was “very sad” that her other children were growing up without Baby Royal in their lives.

“If it weren’t for my other children, I wouldn’t be here now. I’d be locked up six feet underground,” she said.

The victim impact statement of Baby Royal’s “heartbroken” father was also read to the court.

He said his life was still filled with “intense sadness and anger” over what happened to his son and he still struggled to understand why Mehrok had done this.

“All my hopes and dreams for Richard, as any father would have for his son, have been shattered. He is always close to my heart and I could not bear to sit through the retrial.”

At the time of his ticket, Mehrok was boarding at the address and his visa had expired.

Judge Christine Gordon imposed a sentence of seven years and nine months in prison with a minimum period without parole of half of that sentence.

Judge Gordon said this also took into account that Mehrok had prior convictions for assaulting other children in the same home.

He rejected defense attorney Kerry Hadaway’s claim that Mehrok’s actions had been “a momentary and uncharacteristic lack of control.”

“It doesn’t matter if it was a single massive impact or more, this was still extreme violence applied to a deeply vulnerable victim with catastrophic results.”

Judge Gordon said that a period without parole

He was asked to hold Mehrok responsible for the severity of the attack and the damage to Baby Royal’s whānau and also to try to dissuade him and others from this kind of offense.

At the time of his violation, Mehrok’s visa had expired and deportation orders were being prepared to send him back to India after his release from prison, he said.