Abuse calls from TV, mum says

A mother says her daughter’s claims of being assaulted with a rolling pin, towel rail, plate and barbecue spatula came from a television show.

The girl says she was subjected to years of assaults and emotional abuse from her stepfather, but her mother says she ‘‘lies to everyone’’ and fabricated stories after watching American television drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

The mother and stepfather, who cannot be named due to the child’s automatic name suppression, are on trial this week in the Palmerston North District Court.

Both are charged with neglecting the child, while the stepfather has also been charged with assaulting her.

The mother said her daughter loved the show and was ‘‘going off that’’.

Neighbours, who told police they heard the stepfather’s constant barrages of verbal abuse, did not like the family and ‘‘would say anything’’, the mother said in an interview with police played to the court on Friday.

She said neighbours lied and had banded together because her family had just moved to the street at the time of the alleged assaults.

Witnesses throughout the trial said the stepfather’s abuse could be heard throughout the neighbourhood, however the mother initially said it was not directed at her daughter.

He would yell at people on the phone, the court heard.

She later disclosed that the stepfather and daughter argued frequently.

‘‘He is loud, but he’s not angry. Yeah, she did get yelled at a bit she was really naughty and stealing and what not.

‘‘They used to argue and I hated it. He would tell her off and try to explain what she had done wrong.’’

But witnesses told the court that expletive-ridden rants, directed at the daughter, would ring out across the neighbourhood each day.

The mother also denied any knowledge of the girl’s injuries which included cuts, bruises and nerve damage - after the court was told disturbing details about the alleged assaults.

‘‘It didn’t happen. I’ve never seen a cut on her head,’’ she said.

‘‘She bangs into things, she’s clumsy. She trips up the steps. She trips over everything.’’

The defence called the stepfather’s ex brother-in-law, who had a daughter a couple of years younger than the allegedly abused child.

He told the court his daughter idolised the child.

While the stepfather was ‘‘loud’’ and didn’t have an ‘‘inside voice’’, that did not mean he was abusive, the ex brother-in-law said.

‘‘I never saw a problem or anything that wasn’t normal. If I did, I would have stepped in and done something about it.’’

The defence also called on the stepfather’s mother. She often heard her son swearing at the girl.

‘‘I had to speak up reasonably often,’’ she said.

But her son had fun, played and laughed with the girl, she said. ‘‘He did his best to be a family unit.’’

‘‘Yes he can be loud and gruff just how he speaks and his manner - but he has a heart of gold.’’

The trial will conclude on Monday.