Thalia Samson-Dean

Thalia Samson-Dean died on April 13 last year at Middlemore Hospital after she was assaulted at her Papatoetoe home. The country was in an alert level 4 lockdown at the time in a bid to combat Covid-19. Her father Jerome Dean, 22, entered a guilty plea to culpable homicide not amounting to murder before Justice Sally Fitzgerald. Inside the Papatoetoe home Dean became angered that baby Thalia would not stop crying. According to court documents, he wanted to be the kind of father who could settle his baby and in frustration that he could not, suspected she was not his. Dean struck the baby at least five to six times with a closed fist. He later told police that on a scale of 10 the force he had used was a seven to eight, similar to "jabbing" an adult in a boxing match. Dean was interviewed by police on April 18 and 19. In the first interview, he claimed Thalia had stopped breathing as he was rocking her in his arms. When challenged with the physical evidence his story changed. Dean accepted that he had caused Thalia's death but denied any intention to hurt her. In the second interview, he admitted striking her on the head five to six times, possibly more. She had stopped breathing, her body becoming loose. Dean immediately put her down and began CPR. The girl's mother called for an ambulance. The ambulance officers were told that Thalia had displayed flu-like symptoms and fever in the week leading up to her death. She was declared dead in Middlemore Hospital about 7.40pm. Source: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lockdown-baby-death-auckland-dad-admi....