Police slammed over baby boy’s death
The brain injuries 10-month-old Poseidyn Hemopo-pickering received on the last afternoon of his life were so “catastrophic, severe and massive” that they would have been equivalent to swinging a cricket bat at his head the Crown said today at the trial of the child’s father.
But Anthony Pickering was a loving dad, his defence lawyer countered, describing the 32-year-old as someone who has become the victim of a shoddy murder investigation.
Pickering pleaded not guilty to murder yesterday as the jury trial in the High Court at Auckland began.
Baby Poseidyn was rushed to Middlemore Hospital and later to
Starship Hospital on September 5, 2020, after emergency responders found him unresponsive at his Manurewa home in South Auckland. He died hours later.
“The head injuries on Poseidyn were not accidental,” prosecutor Todd Simmonds said. “Mr Pickering has not told police the truth.”
Pickering told police that he heard a “donk” while watching TV as his son and his two-year-old daughter played roughly on the bed in the family’s shared bedroom. He realised his son had hit his head on the window sill, but cuddled him and the child calmed down and soon thereafter started taking his nap, he said.
But prosecutors say the father admitted to family members that he had struck the child out of anger following an argument with his partner in which he was told he might not be Poseidyn’s biological father.
Simmonds said medical experts will testify that Poseidyn’s injuries could not have been caused by an accidental fall against a window sill.
Upon arrival at Starship, the medical team had to drill bore holes in the child’s skull to address brain swelling.