Bella Lisa-Rose Richardson

Nicho Caleb Frater was 23 years old when he killed eight-month-old Bella Richardson on November 7, 2016, in a moment of frustration in their Hackett St, Whanganui, home. Frater had moved in with Bella's mother Kirsty Richardson and her three other children a month beforehand. He had wrongly been told he was Bella's father, and was caring for her while Richardson took her three other children to school. Bella was irritable when her mother returned, but she went to the shops leaving her child with Frater. He lost control in the half-hour after Richardson left, throwing Bella to the ground in a moment of frustration. The baby stopped breathing and went limp, and attempts by Frater and his mother to revive her were unsuccessful. Bella suffered a haemorrhage and head injury causing immediate or near-immediate death. Frater was not charged until nearly two years after Bella's death, and pleaded to manslaughter in October. Frater said in a pre-sentence report he was using methamphetamine at the time, and he killed Bella while coming down. Justice Francis Cooke, QC, said Frater had 39 previous convictions and had served multiple jail terms. Ten of those convictions were for family violence, including assault with a weapon and threatening to kill in 2016, but none for harm against children. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/118216176/nicho-frater-jaile....