Mereana Mana-Motuhake Edmonds

Six year old Mereana Mana-Motuhake Edmonds was brought up by her Nanny Haraiata Edmonds at Flaxmere in Hawke's Bay, then went to live with her mother Belinda Edmonds in Hamilton in December 1998. The six terrifying months she spent with her mother would see her subjected to constant abuse, suffering broken bones (collarbone and ribs), an adult bite mark, and numerous bruises. As punishment for wetting her bed the little girl was locked in an outhouse for the night or was violently slung into the wash-house. Once was slammed backwards into a hard object so forcefully her brain rebounded off the front of her skull. She was kicked so hard she lost her sense of balance and was unable to walk around the house without hitting furniture or walls. She was often picked up by her hair. A pathologist said Mereana had suffered three major brain traumas before her death, caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. One, from a severe blow, was received about two hours before she died. Her mother was sentenced to 8 years for manslaughter, and her partner Dorothy Tipene 27 months for cruelty to a child. Her mother tried to used the defence that Mereana was conceived as the result of a rape when she was 26...

Sources

1. https://childabuseinnz.wordpress.com/my-memorial
2. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mereana-edmonds-bashed-to-death-by-he...
3. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/rape-link-in-childs-death-no-excuse/B...