Meth binge led gran to murder
Defendant snapped over toddler’s toileting accident
A grandmother has been found guilty of murdering her 2-year-old grandson, who died after being thrown down a hall.
Kathleen Elizabeth Cooper, 65, was on trial in the High Court at Auckland accused of murdering Jermain Mason Ngawhau at their Manurewa home on December 13, 2015.
Justice Sarah Katz gave her closing remarks on Monday, before the jury of seven women and five men retired to begin deliberating. They took about nine hours to reach a unanimous verdict.
Justice Katz told them there was no dispute Cooper killed Jermain.
Cooper’s lawyer, Paul Dacre, QC, had earlier said she was responsible for killing the toddler, but had shown no murderous intent and was therefore not guilty of murder.
Justice Katz said the key question for the jury to consider was whether Cooper had intended to kill Jermain.
The Crown had said the incident occurred after the toddler suffered a “toileting accident” and Kathleen Elizabeth Cooper was coming down from a meth high when she killed her grandson. Cooper snapped.
Jermain was rushed to the Starship hospital with severe head injuries but died five days later.
Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins, QC, earlier told the jury that when paramedics arrived at the home they found Jermain required immediate surgery.
“He had a severe head injury, emergency surgery was performed at Starship, but there was no hope — the injuries were too severe,” Perkins said.
Jermain died on December 18, 2015, when his life support was switched off.
“The entire left side of his brain was effectively dead already,” Perkins said. “A very bleak picture indeed.”
Cooper had been caring for four of her daughter’s children at the time of Jermain’s death, all of preschool age.
Jermain was described as very small for a 2-year-old, with a weight of just 10.3kg and height of 79cm. He also suffered from learning difficulties and struggled to walk unaided.
The Crown said Cooper killed the toddler because he was too hard to toilet train and she was irritable from smoking methamphetamine.
Perkins argued the grandmother was irritable on the day she killed Jermain because she was coming down from a meth high and was getting little sleep.
Cooper’s nephew told the court he smoked meth with Cooper, and Perkins further argued that medical tests showed her grandchildren had been exposed to the drug.
Jermain’s mother, Nadia Ngawhau, told the court early in the trial she was “very disappointed, very sad” and “quite upset” that Child, Youth and Family had removed her children and placed them with Cooper.
However, she said her relationship with her mother was “great”, and from what she saw her children loved their nana.
Cooper had initially blamed Jermain’s death on her grand-daughter, then aged 4, who she said hit him over the head with a tablet computer, Perkins said.
Cooper will be sentenced on October 12.