Comfort Joy Thompson-Pene

Southern Thompson, 27, appeared via audiovisual link in the High Court at Rotorua this morning after handing herself in to Hamilton police last night. She is accused of killing her 18-month-old daughter, Comfort Jay Thompson-Pene, between July 20 and July 23, 2018 at Tirau. Thompson faces four charges, including murder, injuring the child with intent to injure and two charges of ill-treating a child. The 18-month-old died in Waikato Hospital on July 24, 2018. Source: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/southern-thompso...

Southern Thompson was sentenced in May 2022 for abusing, neglecting and bashing Comfort Jay Thompson-Pene to death in their Tirau home in July 2018. She was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years on charges of murder, ill-treatment of a child, injuring her with intent and failing to seek medical care... Ambulance staff arrived and found the child lying on her back on the floor. She wasn't moving, and they initially thought she was dead. Ambulance staff noticed the child was only dressed in a small skivvy, and was so cold they were unable to get a body temperature reading. A rescue helicopter was called and took the child to hospital where she was put on life support. It was found she had suffered irreversible brain injuries that were not survivable. Her life support was switched off at 10am on July 24, 2018. The summary of facts described the fatal injuries as well as the ill-treatment and abuse suffered by the child in the months leading up to her death. An autopsy concluded she died as the result of head injuries due to blunt force trauma. There had been a number of impacts to the head, which led to a blood clot over the surface of the brain as well as bleeding over the surface of the brain. The injuries caused the brain to swell, and ultimately for the child to die. She also had extensive bruising around her head, some of which were fresh injuries. Others were older... Doctors found her body covered in healing scratch marks, especially around her neck and chest. She also had extensive bruising on her body consistent with excessive application of fingertip-force from adult-sized hands. A police investigation found that before her death she was subjected to ongoing neglect and physical abuse. Her body was malnourished and she weighted only 8 kilograms, placing her in the second percentile, or lighter than 98 per cent of girls the same age... At the time of her death, she had "severe and extreme" nappy rash. It was so extensive she had large areas of skin peeling from parts of her buttocks... The summary said the child was found with a torn frenula injury, which is generally caused as a result of forcible impact, such as from a blow to the face... The mother admitted she would assault her child to the face and mouth area, causing her "fat lips" and a bleeding mouth. She also had a healing fracture to her left clavicle, or collarbone, that was a number of weeks old. The cause of the fracture was unknown. The summary said regardless of the cause, it was a significant break that was clearly visible to the naked eye, due to one of the bones protruding just below the skin, and there was no doubt it would have been immediately noticeable to the mother on a daily basis. The child would have been in significant pain and would have had difficulty manoeuvring her arm. At no stage did the mother seek any medical care for the child for this broken bone. Source: Rotorua Daily Post (6 July 2022) https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/child-murderer-southern-thompson-aban...