{"id":44188,"date":"2025-09-26T09:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T09:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/44188\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T09:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T09:27:07","slug":"oranga-tamariki-caregivers-trial-more-children-describe-punishments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/44188\/","title":{"rendered":"Oranga Tamariki caregivers trial: More children describe punishments"},"content":{"rendered":"

The alleged offending came to light when one of the children, given the false name Sally<\/a> to protect her identity, ran away, and a friend\u2019s mother alerted police.<\/p>\n

An investigation led police to interview other children who had been in the couple\u2019s care at various stages.<\/p>\n

Eighteen of the charges relate to Sally<\/a>, who referred to the accused as Mum and Dad.<\/p>\n

She alleges she was hit with a stick, burnt with a lighter, slapped and punched.<\/p>\n

In week two of the trial, the jury heard evidence from two other children, also referred to by false names, who lived with the couple during the same period as Sally.<\/p>\n

Jane described a pattern of discipline in the household, stating that it was common for children to be struck on the legs with a stick by the man if they jumped on the couch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we jumped on the top at the kids\u2019 lounge, then we got hit on the leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

She clarified that, while the woman rarely hit anyone, the man was primarily responsible for the physical punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just me,\u201d Jane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the kids … jumped on the couch, but I did it one time, but then after that I stopped and just started to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

During cross-examination, the man\u2019s lawyer, Chris Muston, suggested that Jane had never been hit by his client.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has,\u201d she replied firmly.<\/p>\n

Muston then proposed Jane might be confused with other placements she had experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she responded.<\/p>\n

Despite the alleged punishment, Jane said she felt happy in the home and was sad when she was removed from it.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe trial took a break on Thursday and Friday and will resume again next week. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

In a recorded evidential interview, another child, Mark, also expressed sadness about being taken away from the couple and said he missed them.<\/p>\n

He confirmed that children who jumped on the couch were hit on the feet with a stick by the man.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas anything happened to you?\u201d the interviewer asked the boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow often would they get hit?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike every day, if they jump around, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy could not confirm whether Sally was hit, but recalled hearing her crying upstairs frequently.<\/p>\n

Another Oranga Tamariki caregiver who had Sally\u2019s sister in her care also gave evidence.<\/p>\n

After the child returned from a visit to Sally, the caregiver said she was informed of the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019d seen her hit with a vacuum cleaner pipe and restrained and had her finger pulled back,\u201d she told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad you personally ever seen Sally?\u201d the Crown asked the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly once at the movies. I was pretty sure I saw fear in her face,\u201d she responded.<\/p>\n

Under cross-examination by Muston, she was asked why she never reported the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t take any steps because I didn\u2019t want to believe it was true.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial continues on Monday before Judge Greg Davis.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The alleged offending came to light when one of the children, given the false name Sally to protect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1903,26676,1763,25818,2511,1061,28447,1968,130,111,43,139,69,25816,39139,6289,544,25817,1961,54,96,1455],"class_list":{"0":"post-44188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-abuse","9":"tag-allegations","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-caregivers","12":"tag-child","13":"tag-children","14":"tag-describe","15":"tag-discusses","16":"tag-more","17":"tag-new-zealand","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-newzealand","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-oranga","22":"tag-punishments","23":"tag-readers","24":"tag-some","25":"tag-tamariki","26":"tag-this","27":"tag-trial","28":"tag-upsetting","29":"tag-warning"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}