Social workers often warned in months before murder

AUCKLAND: Police repeatedly raised concerns about the safety of Marie Harlick’s baby girl with social workers in the months before her mother’s death.

The 35yearold was beaten to death in her Opotiki home in November last year and her partner Robert Hohua will be sentenced next month for her murder.

A Herald investigation this month revealed a number of missed opportunities to prevent the murder, which was witnessed by her daughter Vivienne, who was just 19 months old at the time.

She was found by police lying beside the body of her mother, hidden under a blanket.

The toddler, who turns 3 in March, is now being raised in Auckland by her mother’s aunt, who is also called Marie Harlick.

In an interview with the Weekend Herald to mark White Ribbon Day today, Ms Harlick described the ongoing terror Vivienne suffers from what she saw that night.

The Weekend Herald also revealed police made four official ‘‘Reports of Concern’’ to Child Youth and Family about Vivienne during 2016.

The four notifications were among 11 police callouts during Harlick and Hohua’s violent twoyear relationship.

At the time of the murder, Hohua was on bail for an assault on Harlick in August 2016 where he punched and stomped on her head.

According to court records, the 36yearold used Vivienne as a shield when police arrived at the Opotiki address to arrest him.

Hohua also shoved aside two of Harlick’s older daughters, aged 11 and 12, who tried to protect their mother.

CYF was also involved when Harlick was arrested and charged with cultivating cannabis in April 2016.

She pleaded guilty to possession of a class C drug, although her family and probation officer suspect she was taking the blame for Hohua.

Harlick was sentenced to eight months’ home detention but was not supposed to live with Hohua at the Wellington St address where she was murdered.

Putting aside the four ‘‘Reports of Concern’’ from police in 2016, at least one more was made in 2015 when Vivienne was only 2 months old.

She was knocked out of her pram during an assault on Harlick, to which Hohua later pleaded guilty.

‘‘Their incompetence led to Vivienne being strapped in a pushchair and watching her mother being beaten to death,’’ her caregiver Ms Harlick told the Weekend Herald.

‘‘Vivienne has suffered a horrible trauma. She wakes up in the night screaming, ‘Mummy, Mummy’, absolutely screaming in terror. Absolute terror.’’

A senior social worker from CYF, now the Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki, drove from Whakatane to Auckland to visit Ms Harlick and Vivienne.

At this meeting, Ms Harlick said the social worker admitted the agency should have uplifted Vivienne out of the violent home.

The social worker said her niece had been identified as an urgent case in CYF meetings for weeks before her death, she said.

‘‘I really felt uncomfortable because I was sitting there listening to this woman say how they had let Vivienne and Marie down. So there’s a big problem there leading up to her death.’’

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Standen, head of the CIB in the eastern Bay of Plenty, declined to comment on multiple warnings to CYF as the case was still before the courts.

The Ministry for Vulnerable Children refused to answer questions about Vivienne’s case despite Ms Harlick signing a privacy waiver for the Weekend Herald.

A coronial hearing would probably assess the actions of all the agencies involved, the Ministry for Vulnerable Children said.

Children’s Commissioner, Judge Andrew Becroft, said what happened to Harlick and Vivienne was an ‘‘extremely sad story’’ with a familiar narrative — failures by multiple agencies.

‘‘We hope that with greater awareness of these issues, agencies will be working together more closely to help keep women and their children safe from domestic violence,’’ Judge Becroft said.

‘‘This after all is the new cooperative, informationsharing model that the new Oranga Tamariki system will provide.

‘‘To do that, all services need to be alert to the signs of domestic violence, and know how to take action to help. All services, whether they are specifically for children or not, need to ask themselves: how is the child affected? What steps can I take to make sure they are safe? As well as the steps they may be taking to assist the adults involved.’’

The same CYF branch in Whakatane warned about Vivienne was also repeatedly warned about the dysfunctional family of Isaiah Neil, a baby who died after being left in a hot car in November 2015.

An internal review revealed staff were taking shortcuts to meet timeframes, failed to notice the clear pattern of behaviour and noone reviewed the agency’s involvement over a threeyear period in which 10 reports of concern were made.

The Ministry for Vulnerable Children said a number of changes had been made at the Whakatane office, including the recent appointment of a new site manager and extra staffing.

There would now be four teams, instead of three, which would mean lower caseloads. — NZME

❛ Vivienne has suffered a horrible trauma. She wakes up in the night screaming, ‘Mummy, Mummy’, absolutely screaming in terror. Absolute terror