Mum took blame for killing baby
Almost 30 years after falsely confessing to the manslaughter of her baby, Terri Friesen has had her conviction quashed – and could yet launch a bid for compensation. The decision was handed down by a judge in the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday. There is to be no re-trial. The 50-year-old mother-ofseven tearfully embraced friend and law student Kelly Phillips as she learnt she would now be free of the conviction. Friesen told Newshub the decision elicited mixed emotions of sadness, happiness and painful memories. But having her name cleared was not just for her. It was also for her 7-week-old daughter, Chantelle Broughton, who died in 1989 as a result of shaking, which was later admitted by Chantelle’s father. Outside court, Phillips slammed the time it took for Friesen to get justice, saying it seemed like ‘‘you have to be able to afford justice to get to it’’. Phillips said Friesen was a good woman and mother, and could now have the future she dreamed of. She would be able to apply for jobs without a manslaughter conviction shadowing her, and she could live without the shame of people thinking she had killed her own child. ‘‘I can only imagine what it was like for Terri to sit through 30 years of having a wrongful conviction hanging over her,’’ Phillips said. Also outside court was former police detective turned private investigator Tim McKinnel, who was an instigator in Teina Pora’s freedom campaign. McKinnel said somebody within the criminal justice system should have done something much earlier about Friesen’s conviction. ‘‘She is innocent in the eyes of the law and I think most New Zealanders will accept she is innocent.’’ Compensation ‘‘was most certainly in the mix’’ given Friesen spent six weeks on remand in prison. She also did another stint in jail for a drugs
offence, which partly stemmed from finding a way to cope with the stress of her situation, McKinnel said.
Friesen would consult with her lawyer over coming weeks on whether to proceed.
‘‘I think Terri’s got a strong case for compensation given what she’s been through over the past three decades,’’ McKinnel said.
Autopsy results in 1989 revealed Chantelle suffered a brain injury and cracked ribs.
The injuries were proved nonaccidental and Friesen pleaded guilty to the crime. She was convicted and sentenced to six months of supervision.
But 13 years later Chantelle’s father, Brownie Walter Broughton, admitted to the crime to police, as well as perjury relating to an armed robbery at a New Plymouth tavern, which he was previously convicted and jailed for.
He asked that he be charged with manslaughter, explaining he had shaken the infant and then allowed his former partner, Friesen, to take the blame.
Broughton claimed to have found God and wanted to make amends for his misdoings.
Broughton was convicted and sentenced to three years’ jail on the manslaughter and perjury charges. The judge said the crimes warranted a 9-year jail sentence but gave a 6-year discount due to Broughton’s confessions. But Friesen’s conviction was never wiped.
After Broughton’s confession, Friesen told a court she had pleaded guilty to the crime because she believed he could not handle jail time.
She also claimed police had threatened that if one of the pair did not own up, her other daughter would be taken into state care.