Baby basher played games instead of calling for ambulance
A Hamilton man who bashed his 17-dayold daughter so badly she suffered lifelong brain damage opted to play video games instead of calling an ambulance.
To this day Taine Davey asserts the youngster’s obviously significant injuries - severe bleeding on her brain, extensive ligament damage to her neck, bruising to her chest and face - happened after he tripped over while holding her.
In spite of this, Davey, 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard and, ultimately, was jailed for two years and six months when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday.
It was Anzac Day 2021 when Davey was living in a one-bedroom emergency housing unit at the Fountain City Motor Inn in Hamilton with his partner and two children.
That afternoon the baby’s mother, along with her grandmother and son left to go shopping, leaving the infant in Davey’s sole care.
As the summary of facts describes it, “during the time he was alone with the victim, the defendant has by some unknown manner used force on the victim causing her neck to flex, extend, and rotate rapidly, likely repetitively, resulting in the victim suffering severe trauma to her head and neck”.
She also turned pale and began having seizures.
Davey texted his partner, telling her the baby had woken up and she would not stop crying and must have had a bad dream.
She and the others later returned to the motel, where they found Davey sitting in a chair, holding the baby and playing his PlayStation 4.
As they brought the shopping in, he put the baby to sleep in her pepe pod. He and his partner had a brief conversation about the child being cold or looking pale, and then he set to work putting together a trampoline.
Over the next two hours he checked on the baby at least twice. At no point did he raise the alarm about her worsening situation.
Sometime later the baby’s mother realised she was overdue for a feed. She found her child pale and cold. Her head was swollen, her eyes were unable to open properly and there was bruising above her left eye.
The mother phoned her midwife who advised them to seek urgent help.
Soon after her arrival at Waikato Hospital the infant underwent emergency surgery to have a section of her skull removed to relieve the pressure on her brain. She was later airlifted to the intensive care unit at Starship Children’s Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator.
The ventilator was eventually removed on May 20 and, despite the expectations of her doctors, she survived.
However, it remains likely she will have “significant neuro-cognitive impairments” as well as limited life expectancy and a risk of ongoing seizures.
The child is now approaching her third birthday, but has the neurological age of a four to six-month old baby.
In court, Crown prosecutor Rebecca Guthrie sought a starting point for Davey’s sentence of four to four and a half years in jail. His lawyer Aaron Dooney asked for a three and a half year start point.
Guthrie pointed out Davey had repeated his “I tripped” explanation in his pre-sentence interview, even though there was an abundance of evidence pointing to an intentional assault - not least his guilty plea.
Dooney said his client accepted the injuries were not accidental.
“The consequences are clear and unequivocal ... It can’t be shadowboxed around.”
Judge Arthur Tompkins opted for a four year start point. He allowed a 20% deduction for Davey’s youth - he was 17 at the time of the assault - and a further 15% for his guilty plea.
That ended in a jail term of two years and six months - “a proportionate response to the culpability of the offending here”.
“It’s hard to envisage a more vulnerable and more defenceless victim.”