Crown and defence dispute who inflicted ‘severe beating’ to 2-year-old Arapera Fia

The Crown and defence agree about the cause of Arapera Fia’s death. But what they don’t agree upon is who caused the fatal injuries.

The Crown say Tyson Brown is a murderer, while the defence say it was Arapera’s caregiver who caused the fatal injuries in a “moment of madness” on October 31, 2021.

The caregiver, who cannot be identified, has already admitted a charge of manslaughter and gave evidence against her former partner during the two-week trial at the High Court at Auckland.

On Friday, the Crown and defence closed the cases to the jury.

READ MORE:
* Caregiver exchanged messages with murder-accused after 2-year-old’s death
* 2-year-old’s caregiver denies causing fatal injuries, asks flatmate to stay silent
* Two-year-old’s caregiver breaks down while giving evidence at murder trial
* Murder-accused tells police ‘it’s all my fault’ after finding out Arapera Fia’s death
* Flatmate details day 2-year-old Arapera Fia was fatally assaulted
* Man accused of killing baby Googled ‘how to wake up someone from deep sleep’

Prosecutor Luke Radich submitted Brown’s “ridiculous explanations” for Arapera’s injuries just didn’t make sense.

There was the “over-cooked” story about her falling off a small plastic slide, Covid-19 and then telling his friend perhaps the paramedics killed her on the way to hospital.

“This was a severe beating… Arapera died because of a sustained and brutal assault,” Radich said.

“How could that not be murder, how could that not be gambling with her life?” Radich submitted.

There were bruises all over Arapera’s body.

“There’s only one person who could have done that and did that.”

In the weeks after her death, Brown emotionally manipulated the caregiver by “lovebombing” her, making her feel sorry for him and saying he was even willing to sacrifice his life, Radich said.

Neighbours, flatmates and relatives said they’d heard Brown yell and scream at Arapera. Brown even told a friend how he would shin-kick the 2-year-old, Radich said.

Radich submitted there was a critical time on October 31 where Brown was alone with Arapera in which the Crown submit he had an opportunity to cause the fatal injuries.

“This was not a fleeting assault… This was a sustained assault from someone who was angry and had completely lost control,” Radich said.

The caregiver was on the phone with health services, after testing positive for Covid-19, for 30 minutes.

An hour later, at 5.30pm, the pair start searching online: how to wake up someone from a deep sleep, how to wake up someone from being knocked out and how long can a baby be concussed for.

Arapera could have been rendered unconscious between minutes to an hour after the injuries were inflicted, a pathologist said.

Emergency services were called at 8.05pm and paramedics immediately noticed bruises all over Arapera’s body. She died at Starship Hospital in the early hours of November 1.

But defence lawyer Lester Cordwell submitted not one mark on Arapera’s body could be associated with Brown. That would require the jury to speculate, he said.

“There is no evidence to point to Mr Brown inflicting any particular injury.”

Just because he yelled and swore at Arapera doesn’t mean he hit her.

Cordwell submitted the fatal assault happened after the caregiver’s phone call. She said in court Arapera told her she was tired.

Medical experts said it could be clear Arapera had suffered a fatal injury, but Cordwell said the interaction with the caregiver was normal.

There’s a window between 5.10pm and 5.17pm when the caregiver has no activity on her phone, the lawyer said.

“This is a seven-minute gap when moments of madness could have been fitted in,” Cordwell said.

Justice David Johnstone will sum up to the jury on Monday.