Young siblings found with extensive injuries
Two siblings have been found with broken bones, extensive bruising, brain bleeds and other internal injuries in what emergency services are calling a “horrific” incident.
The children, aged 4 and 5, who were taken to hospital by ambulance after a potential family harm incident, were found to also have several injuries believed to be from previous incidents.
A police investigation is under way. According to police, the children had just moved from an address in Waterloo to one in Stokes Valley.
They were at their new home for just two nights before they were hospitalised, Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Cotton said.
“Their injuries were so extensive one required surgery, and it has taken weeks to understand the full extent of damage to their bodies,” Cotton said.
She said the family of the two kids were co-operating to varying degrees, with police believing that some knew more information. The two children lived at the house with their mother, she said, but police believed there were a number of people coming and going from the house.
The children had been interviewed by police yesterday. Both were safe and had now been discharged from hospital, Cotton said. Police were working with Oranga Tamariki to keep them safe.
An incident, which happened around March 8, included injuries that were deliberately inflicted and likely over a period of time, Cotton said.
Someone from inside the house had called the police that night, she said, but she would not confirm if it was the mother.
“These injuries do not just happen – it’s likely someone knows something or has seen something, and that’s why we need the community’s help.”
Police had already been conducting inquiries in the surrounding area, Cotton said, but it was time to reach out to the wider community to help with the investigation.
She said police felt that some people who had spoken to them had more information than they had disclosed.
The family were known to police and Oranga Tamariki, Cotton confirmed.
The case comes as another Wellington child’s death, Baby Ru, is still being investigated.
The toddler, who was initially named Ruthless-empire Souljah Reign Rhind Shephard Wall by his parents, suffered blunt force trauma on the morning of October 22, when he was taken in an unresponsive state to Hutt Hospital, just days before his second birthday. Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard previously said Ru died from blunt force trauma that was not accidental. Subsequently, police launched a homicide investigation.