Malachi died ‘in the care of monsters’
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis to launch a review of all Government departments which could have intervened before his murder.
It was also later revealed that his abuse was known about by a daycare, and photographed, before his death, and a Stuff investigation found the daycare was under no legal obligation to inform anyone of its concerns.
The police summary of facts presents a harrowing account of Malachi’s treatment up to his eventual murder in November last year, noting assaults ‘‘on a daily basis’’.
It started in June when he was placed in the care of Michaela.
‘‘This was both at the defendant Michaela Barriball’s and biological mother’s request,’’ the summary said.
His care was formalised at the Tauranga Family Court in September with Michaela named as his temporary additional guardian. The summary notes she was also ‘‘resisting applications being made by the deceased’s biological family for them to obtain custody of him’’.
Home for Malachi became a relocatable cabin at Michaela’s family address in Tauranga, where she also sometimes lived in what was described as a ‘‘volatile’’ relationship with her partner, an overstayer in New Zealand.
Both Michaela and Malachi used the main house, which was also home to her father, for showers and eating meals.
The summary said she would assault him daily, including slaps to the head, face, body and by pushing him by his chest into walls and the ground.
He also began to soil himself, prompting Michaela to ‘‘punish’’ him by stripping him to his underwear and locking him outside.Other punishments included making Malachi stand for extended periods, and depriving him of food.
‘‘On the day of his death on November 12 2021 the deceased was visibly skinny and underweight,’’ the summary said. ‘‘He weighed 16kg, the same weight recorded at a medical appointment in November 2019
when he was three years old.’’
The summary also includes details of Malachi being slammed against walls, repeatedly struck on the face and held underwater in a bath.
‘‘The deceased, when allowed up for air, asked her to stop, but she forced his face under the water again,’’ the summary said.
Later, ‘‘she was heard yelling while the deceased was screaming’’.
He was burnt under a shower with water that was measured at 73 degrees, and left ‘‘screaming on a sheet in the lounge room’’.
One burn was described as being caused ‘‘by an object being pressed into the skin’’, and others were found on his forehead.
The summary also detailed text messages Michaela sent to her partner in the wake of the burning, telling him ‘‘he’s in so much pain and can’t take him to hospital’’.
She also texted ‘‘His mum asking for a video call but when she ring then I’ll say [to] her no data’’ and later, ‘‘I’m gonna kill that c... if I ever see his ugly duckling face again’’.
She sent a message to her father Chris Barriball to say she would not take Malachi to hospital ‘‘cause of the bruises on his face from bumping into shit would make it look bad for me’’.
The summary also noted Malachi ‘‘was in obvious pain’’ when Michaela took him to a family function in October.
Several family members noticed the scabbed-over burn on his head and ‘‘became concerned that he was being abused’’.
‘‘The defendant Michaela Barriball assured them that he had burnt himself in the shower and had already been seen by a doctor,’’ the summary said.
‘‘At no stage did the defendant
Michaela Barriball take the deceased for any medical assistance.’’
Voice calls with his biological mother around this time assured her ‘‘everything was going well’’.
On November 1, 2021, the day scheduled for a final Family Court hearing, Michaela inflicted ‘‘multiple blunt force head injuries’’ on Malachi, before carrying him to the main house, unconscious and suffering from seizures.
She later told ambulance staff he had ‘‘fallen over while getting changed for school and had a fit’’.
Malachi was taken to Tauranga Hospital, then airlifted to Starship Hospital in Auckland.
He was placed into an induced coma before dying on November 12.
The cause of death was ruled as blunt force head injury.