Pair jailed for ‘callous’ neglect of dying child
A Pahıatua toddler suffered in pain for hours while his carers callously did nothing to seek help for him before he finally succumbed to his injuries, a court has heard.
Alesha Lee Cresswell, 31, and Peter James Otuszewski, 27, were jailed for their neglect of the boy, who was Cresswell’s son, by Justice Christine Grice in the High Court at Palmerston North yesterday.
Ashton, 4, died in his Pahıatua home on April 6, 2017, having suffered blunt-force trauma that tore his intestine.
He also had a head injury similar to those people suffer in car crashes or when a baby is shaken, and 65 bruises of various ages all over his body, including his head.
The couple pleaded guilty to a charge of neglect in April, after it was downgraded from manslaughter.
Cresswell will spend three years and 11 months in jail and Otuszewski four years and one month behind bars.
Grice said although there was no evidence either of the pair caused the injuries that killed Ashton, he could have been saved if they had given him medical attention in a timely manner.
Medical evidence showed Ashton likely suffered considerable pain for at least 16 hours before his death, as the tear in his intestine caused his body to poison itself and his belly to distend.
On the day he died, Ashton was seen, pale and wobbly, struggling to stand. Later, he was crawling because he couldn’t walk, the judge said.
The pair knew Ashton, who was sickly and small for his age, had been vomiting for days and hadn’t eaten for some time.
‘‘Failing to seek medical care in those circumstances showed a certain degree of callousness,’’ Grice said.
Ashton was born with an immune deficiency and spent most of the first year of his life in Starship children’s hospital in Auckland.
The judge said despite Cresswell’s low IQ, she had proven capable of managing day-to-day life.
Until April 2017, Cresswell had been a loving mother who had always taken care of Ashton’s medical needs, which in some ways made this neglect worse, the judge said.
Cresswell’s lawyer Simon Hewson said there were few external signs Ashton had suffered a fatal wound and the couple initially thought he was suffering from a bad ‘‘tummy bug’’.
Ashton was a brave but clumsy child, who bruised easily due to his condition, and most of the bruises came from his misadventures, Hewson said.
The court summary of the offending says Creswell’s mother had taken Ashton and his two older siblings to a birthday party the weekend before his death and all three became sick.
But after his siblings recovered, Ashton was still vomiting and his condition worsened.
The pair had told the police they planned to take Ashton to hospital that Friday and he had been sleeping in their bed with them on Thursday night.
They called 111 at 11pm, and told the operator Ashton had gone limp and appeared to have stopped breathing.
By the time emergency services arrived, Ashton had likely been dead for some time, Grice said.