Soul Turany’s father waits for justice over death
Rarely a day goes by where Corey Neligan doesn’t think about his infant son and what might have been.
Soul Mathew Turany was just three-months-old when he suffered a serious head injury at a dairy farm on Coaltrack Rd, near Burnham in Canterbury, about 6.45am on August 30, 2014. He was rushed to hospital, but died the next day.
Police do not believe Soul’s death was an accident.
A homicide investigation is ongoing.
Soul entered the world by elective c-section weighing 4.3 kilograms on May 9, 2014.
He had light brown hair and was perfect, Neligan said. ‘‘A little fat man – I was rapt.’’ Soul’s mother, Storme Turany, moved from Australia to New Zealand in 2013 and took up a job at the Coaltrack Rd farm.
She fell pregnant with Soul while she was in a casual relationship with Neligan, who was working at the property at the time.
It was a wake-up call for Neligan, who never thought he would be a father.
‘‘I was over the moon when I found out. It gave me some perspective on life.’’
Neligan took up a new job as herd manager on a dairy farm in North Canterbury several months before Soul was born. By then, he and Storme were no longer seeing each other.
After Soul’s birth, Storme moved in with her sister for support. She eventually moved back to the Coaltrack Rd property.
Neligan said he would try and visit Soul often, but that was usually only once a week.
‘‘I was there every day off I had.
‘‘Every time I saw him he was happy.
‘‘He was always smiling – he was bright eyed. He used to blow bubbles and do funny things with his mouth.’’
Soul would play up, like most babies do, but he was mostly well-behaved, Neligan said.
‘‘He had a good set of lungs on him. If he didn’t have enough [food] you knew about it.’’
Then, one morning, Neligan received the call every parent dreads.
‘‘I answered it and they said ‘just get to the hospital now’.’’
When he arrived, officials told him Soul had suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.
‘‘I just took it in and realised I wasn’t going to have my son back,’’ Neligan said.
The infant died after his life support was turned off.
Neligan has watched as police around the country have investigated the deaths of many children since Soul was killed.
In many cases, people have been arrested and charged, but nearly two years on, he is still waiting for answers, and fears he may never get any.
Soul’s cremated ashes are in an urn next to Neligan’s bed, and photos of the infant line the walls of his bedroom.
Police have a small list of suspects, including a man in his 20s, who have been spoken to several times by detectives.
Neligan, who has moved home to the Wairarapa, was not present at the Coaltrack Rd farm when Soul suffered the fatal injuries.
Storme has declined to comment since Soul’s death.