‘I did love my mum’, daughter tells jury
The woman charged with manslaughter in relation to her mother’s death says she loved her mother and believed she was doing the best she could to care for her.
Ena Lai Dung, 76, died in her Manurewa, South Auckland, home on January 16, 2015.
In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, her daughter Cindy Taylor cried when she spoke about the moment she found Dung dead in her bedroom.
Taylor said her mother’s skin was cold and she began ‘‘freaking out’’ before asking her flatmate, Brian Taylor, to check if she was dead.
Brian Taylor confirmed Dung was dead and his wife, Luana Taylor, called for an ambulance.
The couple are on trial alongside Cindy Taylor and are charged with failing to protect a vulnerable adult.
‘‘Even though my mother and I, our relationship wasn’t close ... I did try to make a reconciliation with her when I moved in,’’ Cindy Taylor said.
‘‘I did love my mum, there’s no way I would have done something to cause her death.’’
Dung weighed just 29 kilograms and was covered in bed sores and her own waste when she was found dead by emergency services.
Yesterday the court was told that Cindy Taylor knew of the sores but did not seek medical attention for her mother.
Taylor was shown images of Dung’s body and became emotional before turning the evidence book away.
When questioned by Brian Taylor’s lawyer, Louise Freyer, Cindy Taylor accepted that the sores would have been present for more than a day.
‘‘You had many days to look at them and to ‘freak out’, but you didn’t freak out, did you?’’ Freyer said.
The Crown has said the case is about the ‘‘gross neglect’’ of an elderly woman, who died a ‘‘miserable death’’.
The trial will Monday. continue on