Elijah-Abraham Ngawhika

During a Level Four Covid-19 lockdown, a teething and crying six-month-old Elijah Abraham Ngawhika died as a result of asphyxiation after his mother Melody Mamaengaroa Ngawhika held his face tightly against her shoulder until he suffocated on 29 August 2021. She then fetched a nearby duffle bag and wrapped the child in blankets but couldn’t bring herself to place him in the bag. Ngawhika called the police from her Rotorua home later the same night, saying “the voices told me to do it”.

Sources

1. Infanticide defence “a matter for the jury” https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/307614-infanticide-defence-matter-ju...
2. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/baby-elijah-death-mother-melody-ngawh...
3. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/rotorua-mum-melo...
4. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/131484516/woman-who-killed-her-six...
5. https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/307878-infanticide-murder-starting-p...