A mother accused of failing to provide the necessaries of her life for her 11-week old daughter was suffering from post-natal depression, her doctor told an Auckland today.

Tahani Mahomed was admitted to hospital with severe head injuries on December 28, 2007. She died on New Year's Day.

Her father, Azees Mahomed, 31, is accused in the High Court at Auckland of murder and two counts of causing his baby grievous bodily harm. The Crown alleges he broke her leg by apparently twisting it violently and inflicted head injuries that caused brain damage.

He and his wife Tabbasum, 26, are also charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life.

The South African-born couple had not been able to explain to police how Tahani received her injuries.

Crown prosecutor Phil Hamlin said the baby's head had been forced violently against a hard, "unforgiving" surface.

The family doctor, Mushfiq Ahmad, said there were many factors which were likely to have contributed to Tabassum Mohamed having post-natal depression.


She was a new immigrant without any family support, living in poor housing, with two children under two-years-old, he told the court.

He wrote her a medical certificate because she was over-burdened and appeared not to be coping. She was having to study to keep her visa and keep up with her duties at home. She also missed paediatric appointments.

Dr Ahmad said he received an emergency phone call from her at 5.56am on December 28, 2007. The baby wsa vomiting and had a fever, she told him.

Paul Borich, defending Tabassum Mahomed, asked Dr Ahmad if she sounded very concerned and worried about Tahani's condition.

He agreed that was the case.

He said because the child was non-responsive, she should have gone to a doctor straight away.

"Are you sure you expressed the urgency to Mrs Mahomed about getting to a doctor straight away?" Mr Borich asked.

Dr Ahmad said he made that clear.

Nurse Lesley Kazula was working at Middlemore Hospital when Tahani was admitted.

She said Mrs Mahomed told her that her baby wasn't eating.

Ms Kazula said Tahani was semi-conscious, with her eyes partly open and her hands clenched.

"She looked quite underweight and seemed unwell and thin," Ms Kazula said.

When she asked Mrs Mahomed if Tahani had looked like this before, she said "when she gets a fright".

Ms Kazula took Tahani to the resuscitation room.

Paediatrician David Montgomery also saw Tahani that night at Middlemore Hospital.

He told the court she was receiving oxygen through a mask, with additional breaths administered by staff.

"The child was extremely lethargic and not responding normally. "She was having periods of becoming very stiff, extending her arms and legs and scissoring them over each other.

"This indicates a severe problem with the brain and increased pressure on the skull.

"She also had a very intense and bulging fontanelle, which was very tense to touch and her pupils were dilated and not responding to light," Mr Montgomery told the court.

The trial is proceeding.

Police have named the one-year-old boy found dead in a Rotorua house on Friday but the cause of his death remains a mystery.

Emergency services found one-year-old Trent James Matthews - also known as Michael Matthews - in the lounge area of an Edmund Road home about 7.30am on Friday.

Trent was in the care of his uncle and aunt, who have two other children, aged seven and one.

A 29-year-old woman, understood to be his aunt, was charged with assaulting a child and appeared in Rotorua District Court on Saturday.

She was bailed to a Kaitaia address, despite police opposition, but is to reappear in court on Wednesday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper said as the matter was before the court he could not reveal what injuries the baby had suffered.

He also could not detail what the circumstances were surrounding the infant's death but said the family was not known to police and did not have a history of domestic violence.

Asked if the charge could be upgraded to homicide, Mr Loper said: "It's too early to say yet".

"Why I say that is the autopsy at the weekend was inconclusive and we are waiting for forensics so until we get a definite cause of death we wont be able to proceed."

"At this stage we can't say that this is a death as a result of child abuse," he said.

Mr Loper said forensic scene examination results could take up to six weeks.

The house where the baby was found was empty when the Herald visited earlier today.

Neighbours said the man and the woman at the address were generally polite and quiet.

"There was the odd party but we are probably noisier than they are," said one woman who only wanted to be known as "Sandra".

Police said the baby's body was released yesterday following an inconclusive post mortem.

He has been taken to Kaitaia where he will be buried.

Homicide investigation into death of infant boy
4:00AM Thursday Mar 12, 2009
By Alanah May Eriksen

A relative of the 5-week-old boy who died from head injuries in Taupo has told how she found the child gasping for air in his cot.

Police yesterday said they had started a homicide investigation into the death of Jayrhis Ian Te Koha Lock-Tata after a post-mortem examination.

His injuries were determined to be non-accidental.

The baby died in Auckland's Starship hospital on Saturday after being admitted last Thursday in a critical condition.

He was first taken to Taupo Hospital from his home in Tonga St.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner said 14 investigators were working on the case and police were working closely with the family.

A neighbour who is also a relative of the baby's mother, Shannel Tata, told the Herald she went into the child's bedroom to check on him about 10.30am last Thursday and saw he was struggling to breathe.

She took him from his cot and phoned an ambulance.

She said Ms Tata was devastated.

St John acting team manager for the Taupo district, Steve Lynch, said he manually ventilated the child at the scene before he was taken to hospital with his mother by his side.

"He had gone into respiratory arrest. The child had a pulse and his heart was still beating but he wasn't breathing for himself."

Mr Lynch has been interviewed by police about his part in the rescue.

Another neighbour said she saw the baby being put into the ambulance.

"The mother was yelling 'why isn't he breathing?', 'Why isn't my baby breathing?'"

Ms Tata is believed to have two other young children, a boy and a girl. She had her two youngest children with her current partner, Adam.

Child, Youth and Family acting regional director Don Horsefield said the baby had been known to the department.

"The death of a baby is always tragic, and my deepest sympathies go to those who loved this baby.

"CYF is assisting the police and working with the baby's family."