Kelly Rae McRoberts

Peter Arthur McRoberts 27, was found guilty of murdering his 6-year-old son Kelly and jailed for life. Kelly was subjected to a prolonged beating after soiling himself. He was left with more than 60 injuries or bruises and shut in an unheated sleepout for two days in the in the middle of winter. The beating took place on a Friday afternoon. McRoberts called an ambulance on Sunday night after Kelly had lost consciousness, did not appear to be breathing, and there was a dark liquid coming from his mouth. Ambulance staff attempted to revive him on the way to the hospital, and CPR was administered for about 45 minutes at the hospital, before Kelly was declared dead. Source: 4theKids.

On his last day at Marchwiel School, Kelly Ray McRoberts impressed teacher Kathryn de Joux by scoring five out of five in the Friday morning spelling quiz. It marked a substantial improvement for the six-year-old who started class in Timaru last year with learning difficulties and a poor concentration span. Repeating the effort next time would earn a certificate for the family album acknowledging his achievement. Kelly, a quiet but happy student who loved drawing, never made the school week starting last August 3. While his classmates ate peanut butter sandwiches and skipped around the playground Kelly's grandfather planned his burial at the family cemetery in Waikawa Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. Most parents would be chuffed with Kelly's success but his dad, Peter McRoberts, was not easily pleased. Soon after Kelly returned home on Friday, July 31, he soiled his pants, a trait that usually surfaced late afternoon. Kelly's latest toilet trouble prompted what police described as a savage beating with a stick. He was then banished to a sleepout for 48 hours, isolated from his sister and five step siblings who shared the tidy suburban property with McRoberts and his de facto wife. Huddled on a mattress in a room with no heating, Kelly lapsed into unconsciousness and had a cardiac arrest. On Sunday evening, McRoberts found Kelly was not breathing and called an ambulance. He attempted CPR. Ambulance and Timaru Hospital staff took over and struggled for 45 minutes to revive him. McRoberts, a 27-year-old truck driver, was found guilty of murder and jailed for life after a trial in the High Court at Timaru. Kelly's post-mortem revealed more than 60 bruises and other external injuries. A subdural haemorrhage gradually caused the brain to shut down. McRobert's de facto wife, whose name was suppressed, said she had seen Kelly in the sleepout on Saturday morning and noticed only a puffy eye. "I didn't go out again because I had six kids to look after. Kelly was Peter's son. It was easier for him." Kelly's mother, Omer Skipper, who split from McRoberts more than two years ago, blames herself for Kelly's death, said Burt. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/79248360/soiled...

Peter Arthur McRoberts, 37, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999 for the murder of his son, in what the Parole Board described as terrible circumstances. At McRoberts' trial for the murder of Kelly Ray McRoberts, aged six, Christchurch paediatrician Richard Caseley described the boy's injuries as one of the most severe cases of child abuse and neglect he had ever seen. Kelly was subjected to a prolonged beating after soiling himself. He was left with more than 60 injuries or bruises and shut in an unheated sleepout for two days in the in the middle of winter. The beating took place on a Friday afternoon. McRoberts called an ambulance on Sunday night after Kelly had lost consciousness, did not appear to be breathing, and there was a dark liquid coming from his mouth. Ambulance staff attempted to revive him on the way to the hospital, and CPR was administered for about 45 minutes at the hospital, before Kelly was declared dead. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/2927501/Timaru-man-who-a...