Man charged after boy fatally injured

Residents in a Rotorua street where a 5-year-old boy was fatally injured say his family had not lived there long.

Police have charged a man with assault after the child died in Rotorua Hospital on Saturday night.

Details of what happened remain unclear but neighbours said they woke on Sunday to find the child’s Union St home cordoned off and several police cars in the street.

Resident Craig Nelson said “It’s sad to hear that the baby [child] died.”

He didn’t think the parents of the child had lived there long.

He had only seen the 5-year-old once but he was “just playing like a normal child”.

“I don’t know what happened ... This is a beautiful neighbourhood, nothing really goes on round here. Mainly tourism — hotels down the road.”

A woman who lived next door to the property, who only wanted to be known by her first name Vaishali, said she woke up early on Sunday to see three police cars outside the house, which had been sealed off.

Police later asked if she witnessed anything. They said the circumstances were “all confidential” while police interviews and forensic examinations took place.

She said she had seen a young boy and a young girl at the home on various occasions.

Following the death a child’s blue and black T-shirt was placed on a tree near the cordoned off property. A flax flower wrapped in a blue ribbon has also been placed on the tree for the little boy.

A man came out of the property while the Daily Post was there, looked at the tree and said loudly “it is sad” before returning inside.

Police said yesterday that a postmortem examination and homicide investigation had begun.

A 24-year-old man appeared in Rotorua District Court yesterday charged with assaulting a child. He was remanded in custody and is due to reappear on March 3.