Teegan Te Hua Tahi Tairoa-Wichman, [twin]

Killed by father Tawera Wesley Wichman. Teegan and her sister Rihari were born 15 weeks premature in October 2008 and were in a special-care baby unit until January 2009 before they went home. On 4 March Tawera tried to give Teegan a bottle but she continued crying. He was so frustrated that he shook her until she lost consciousness. This was the second time he had shaken her. Teegan had seizures and was readmitted to hospital with extensive brain damage. She returned to her Wellington home in April, but a month later was readmitted to Hutt Hospital where she died from her injuries on 8 September. Source: https://debbiemccauleyauthor.wordpress.com/biographies/new-zealand-....

Teegan died in Hutt Hospital on September 8, 2009. She and her twin sibling were born 15 weeks premature in October the year before when dad Tawera Wesley Wichman was only 17 and his partner Tamara Tairoa just 16. The Court heard Teegan was admitted to hospital with a brain injury two months after being released from the special care baby unit. She returned to her Wellington home in April, but a month later admitted to hospital where she died from her injuries. Before Teegan and her sibling were taken home by their parents, the hospital had warned them of the dangers of shaking a baby. But Teegan was a diffcult baby. She cried a lot, the court heard. Wichman had tried to give Teegan a bottle but she was still crying, the Court heard. The 17-year-old father then shook Teegan. Source: https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/crime/24-year-old-sentenced-to-th...

When Tawera Wichman thought he had been accepted into a lucrative criminal underworld operation, he was so pleased that he rang his father to give him the good news. On the boss's promise to "fix" any problem he had with police, he also made a confession he thought he never would: that shaking his baby daughter that led to her death. His relief at finally telling someone what he had done shone from the transcript of the secretly recorded conversation. He told the boss he had even tricked himself into believing the story he had told the police when he had been a 17-year-old father of prematurely born twins. At the High Court in Wellington on Thursday, Wichman was sentenced to three years and 10 months' jail after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of daughter Teegan by shaking her on March 4, 2009. More than three years after he was charged, Wichman pleaded guilty to manslaughter by assaulting Teegan Te Hua Tahi Tairoa-Wichman, who died in September 2009, aged 11 months. A pathologist linked the death to head injuries suffered before April that year. He was just 17 when he became the father of premature twins in 2008, with his girlfriend from school in the Hutt Valley. She was 16. He struggled under the pressures of parenthood, and became angry and frustrated when one of the twins cried. It was originally alleged that, early in 2009, he lost control and shook Teegan, although a charge of causing grievous bodily harm in respect of that was dropped, and no mention was made of the earlier allegation when Wichman was sentenced. Then on March 4, 2009, he shook Teegan and she suffered extensive brain damage. More than three years after he was charged, Wichman pleaded guilty to manslaughter by assaulting Teegan Te Hua Tahi Tairoa-Wichman, who died in September 2009, aged 11 months. A pathologist linked the death to head injuries suffered before April that year. He was just 17 when he became the father of premature twins in 2008, with his girlfriend from school in the Hutt Valley. She was 16. He struggled under the pressures of parenthood, and became angry and frustrated when one of the twins cried. It was originally alleged that, early in 2009, he lost control and shook Teegan, although a charge of causing grievous bodily harm in respect of that was dropped, and no mention was made of the earlier allegation when Wichman was sentenced. Then on March 4, 2009, he shook Teegan and she suffered extensive brain damage. Teegan was discharged from hospital in late March 2009, but was readmitted in May and stayed there until she died. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/68322258/long-journey-to-jus...

TAIROA-WICHMAN Teegan Te Hua Tahi on September 8th 2009 peacefully at Hutt Hospital; aged 11 months. Dearly loved daughter of Tamara and Tawera; Loved sister of Rihari; much loved Grand-daughter of Donna Hoskin and Lance Tairoa, Debbie Miller and Wesley Wichman; Much loved by her extended family. In lieu of flowers Teddy's are welcome. Messages to "the Tairoa-Wichman family" may be placed in Teegan's tribute book at below or posted C/- PO Box 44-176 Lower Hutt. Teegan's funeral service will be held at the Orongomai Marae, Railway Avenue Upper Hutt on Friday September 11, 2009 at 10:00am followed by a burial at the Akatarawa Cemetery. Source: https://www.tributes.co.nz/ViewMyTribute.aspx?id=4340