Starship Children’s Hospital.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A coronial inquiry into the death of 10-month-old Poseidyn Hemopo-Pickering has entered its second day.
Poseidyn was rushed to Middlemore Hospital and then taken to Starship Children’s Hospital on the evening of 5 September, 2020, after being found unresponsive at his Manurewa home.
He died in hospital the following morning.
Anthony Simon Pickering was acquitted of murdering his son in 2022 after a jury trial, and no one has been held responsible for the baby boy’s death.
The purpose of the coronial inquiry is to determine how Poseidyn died and the circumstances leading up to it, not criminal or civil liability.
At the Coroner’s Court in Auckland on Tuesday, Professor Colin Smith, a neuropathologist who examined a scan of Poseidyn’s brain, gave evidence as part of the inquiry. He appeared via audio-visual link from the UK.
Earlier in the inquiry Dr Fiona Miles – on duty at Starship Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit when Poseidyn arrived – said the hospital was told he fell and hit his head on a windowsill. But the severity of his injuries raised concern that they were non-accidental.
Smith also said Poseidyn’s injuries being caused by an accidental fall from a short distance did not seem plausible.
“It’s not uncommon for the toddler age group to fall over and hit their heads against the edge of tables or chairs and get a nasty bump, and they may get a skull fracture associated with it, but they don’t have a fatal head injury from that.
“In my opinion, there is no evidence to suggest this is a reasonable explanation for the severity of the head injury in this case.”
He said Poseidyn’s injuries would have required a greater force to inflict – and appeared to have suffered a serious skull fracture, a laceration of the brain and a blood clot in the brain.
He said this would have caused “extreme distress”, and it would have been obvious to those around Poseidyn that something was seriously wrong.
He said he would expect loss of consciousness either immediately or within a few minutes.
The inquiry continues.
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