Dead toddler had historic broken bones, court hears

Ihaka Stokes suffered two broken bones at least a week before he was beaten to death, a court has heard.

The 14-month-old boy was rushed to Christchurch Hospital on the night of July 3, 2015, where he died of massive head injuries.

Troy Taylor, the former partner of Ihaka’s mother Mikala Stokes, is on trial in the High Court at Christchurch for murdering and assaulting Ihaka. He has pleaded not guilty.

Ihaka was found to have suffered 59 separate injuries. Postmortem scans identified several broken bones, including both shoulder blades, his left forearm and several vertebrae. The prosecution and defence agree Ihaka’s injuries were ‘‘non-accidental’’.

Paediatric radiologist Philippa Depree told the court the shoulder blade and forearm breaks happened within a week of Ihaka’s death. Vertebrae breaks were hard to date, but two other broken bones, a rib and a right hand bone, showed signs of new bone formation, which indicated healing. That meant the injuries were at least a week, and up to several months, old, Depree said. The rib injury, in particular, was unlikely to be accidental, she said.

Ihaka’s broken shoulder blades had a ‘‘high specificity’’ of inflicted rather than accidental trauma, Depree said. Questioned by Justice Cameron Mander, she said that injury would have been ‘‘extremely painful’’.

‘‘These are uncommon and they’re seen with high-energy trauma such as high-speed motor vehicle accidents, direct blows to the back.’’

Earlier, the court heard that blood was found on the wall, curtains and window frame of Ihaka’s bedroom.

Forensic scientist Gary Gillespie told the court he examined every room of the house where Taylor, Stokes and Ihaka lived, and numerous items found inside as part of the police investigation.

In Ihaka’s bedroom, two blood stains were found on a window frame behind the cot, three on the nearby curtain and one on the wall on the far side of the curtain from the cot. Gillespie said the stains appeared to be spatter, ‘‘dispersed through the air due to external force’’ from a source such as a nose, mouth or other object.

It was not clear if any of the blood stains were the result of an impact, he said.

Many blood and hair samples taken from Ihaka’s room were not tested, he said. Under re-examination from Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh, Gillespie said it was common to test a representative sample of such evidence.

The court watched Taylor’s police interview conducted less than an hour after Ihaka died. He recounted how the child was grizzly and restless in his cot that night. Taylor briefly climbed into the cot to settle him and climbed out when he fell asleep. ‘‘He seemed fine,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘He had his night light and stuff on so he could still see in the room.’’

Taylor said he heard ‘‘quite a loud thud’’ from Ihaka’s room a couple of hours later. He told police that when he checked on the boy, he found him face down, pale and unresponsive.

In the taped interview, Detective Nigel Thomson pressed Taylor on how Ihaka was hurt: ‘‘Things just don’t add up from what you’re telling me. There’s some inconsistencies in your story.’’

‘‘I would not lay a finger on that boy,’’ Taylor said.

‘‘I would lay down my own life for him. That boy is everything to me. I would never, ever touch him.’’

Taylor repeated in the interview his account of hearing a bang and finding Ihaka unresponsive when he checked him.

The trial continues today.