Court told of toddler’s suffering
A Pahı¯atua toddler suffered in pain for hours while his carers callously did nothing to seek help for him before he finally succumbed to his injuries, a court has heard.
Alesha Lee Cresswell, 31, and Peter James Otuszewski, 27, were jailed for their neglect of the boy, who was Cresswell’s son, by Judge Christine Grice in the High Court at Palmerston North on Friday.
Ashton, 4, died in his Pahı¯atua home on April 6, 2017, having suffered blunt force trauma that tore his intestine.
He also had a head injury similar to those people suffer in car crashes or when a baby is shaken, and 65 bruises of various ages all over his body, including his head.
The couple pleaded guilty to neglect in April, after the charge was downgraded from manslaughter.
Cresswell will spend three years and 11 months in jail and Otuszewski four years and one month behind bars.
Grice said although there was no evidence either of the pair caused the injuries that killed Ashton, the toddler could have been saved if they had given him medical attention in a timely manner.
Medical evidence showed Ashton likely suffered considerable pain for at least 16 hours before his death, as the tear in his intestine caused his body to poison itself and his belly to distend.
On the day he died, Ashton was seen pale and wobbly, struggling to stand. Later, he was crawling because he couldn’t walk, the judge said.
The pair knew Ashton, who was sickly and small for his age, had been vomiting for days and hadn’t eaten for some time before his death.
‘‘Failing to seek medical care in those circumstances showed a certain degree of callousness,’’ Grice said.
Ashton was born with an immune deficiency and spent most of the first year of his life at Starship children’s hospital in Auckland.
Grice said despite Cresswell’s low IQ, she had proven capable of managing dayto-day life. Until April 2017, Cresswell had been a loving mother who had always taken care of Ashton’s medical needs, which in some ways made this neglect worse, the judge said.
Cresswell’s lawyer, Simon Hewson, said there were few external signs Ashton had suffered a fatal wound and the couple initially thought he had a bad ‘‘tummy bug’’.
Ashton was a brave but clumsy child, who bruised easily due to his condition, and most of the bruises came from his misadventures, Hewson said.
A court summary of the offending says Creswell’s mother had taken Aston and his two older siblings to a birthday party the weekend before his death and all three became sick.
But after his siblings recovered, Ashton was still vomiting and his condition worsened throughout the week.
The pair had told police they planned to take Ashton to hospital that Friday and he had been sleeping in their bed with them on Thursday night.
They called 111 at 11pm, and told the operator Ashton had gone limp and appeared to have stopped breathing.
By the time emergency services arrived, Ashton was already stiff, cold to the touch, and displaying signs of rigor mortis. He had likely been dead for some time.