FRACTURED: LINK TO THE PODCAST AND TRANSCRIPTS: A controversial conviction and a family devastated: Melanie Reid:
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/13/fractured-a-controversial-conviction-and-a-family-devastated/
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Reid said: “It is not usual for us as journalists to be making submissions to the CCRC, but in this case I felt like we had no choice “This mother had her baby uplifted at 10 weeks old and her child is now six. The removal of her child and her subsequent conviction is based on medical evidence that we can now prove is flawed. “There is growing concern internationally among medical and legal experts about the misdiagnosis or the over-diagnosis of child abuse, and New Zealand is no exception.”
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Almost four years ago, the woman, who was living in Auckland, was convicted of intentionally hurting her infant daughter. At her sentencing, the judge described the medical evidence as “overwhelming”. During her three-week trial, four doctors from Starship Hospital told the jury the injuries the newborn baby had suffered were non-accidental and amounted to ‘abusive head trauma’, the rebranded term that replaced ‘shaken baby syndrome’. No expert medical witnesses appeared for the mother’s defence. She was found guilty and sentenced to two years and seven months in prison. She has always maintained she did not, and would not, hurt her daughter. Reid’s international inquiries into the medical diagnosis revealed the baby had an existing metabolic condition; that the number of fractures was more indicative of a bone condition than abuse; at least some of the babies injuries occurred during birth; and the baby’s extremely low levels of vitamin D were not given adequate consideration. All experts interviewed for the Fractured investigative podcast categorically believe abuse by the mother against this baby was highly unlikely."
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STORY: "Minister cancels Fractured podcast mum’s deportation," published by Newsroom staff, on February 22, 2025.
SUB-HEADING: "A late call by an immigration minister grants a stay of deportation for a mother controversially convicted of child abuse, while her case is under review."
GIST: The woman at the centre of the Fractured podcast investigation into a wrongful conviction for child abuse has won a reprieve from deportation on the orders of an immigration minister.
In a remarkable last-minute twist, the young immigrant mother at the heart of Fractured, Melanie Reid’s groundbreaking podcast on a case involving a baby’s injuries, has had her deportation order cancelled.
Just days before she was set to be removed from the country, Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk intervened, cancelling the deportation order and issuing her a 12-month work visa.
“I have decided to cancel [Zita’s – not her real name] deportation liability and grant her a special direction under section 17 of the Immigration Act 2009 for her convictions in relation to the injuries sustained by her daughter,” Penk wrote in his decision.
“This will allow her to remain in New Zealand while her application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is assessed.”
Penk wrote that he made his decision after carefully considering the supporting letters and documentation.
The decision comes as new evidence, which could overturn the woman’s conviction for harming her infant daughter, awaits review by the CCRC.
This new evidence, procured by Newsroom’s investigation editor Melanie Reid from four international medical experts, casts serious doubt over Zita’s conviction.
Reid, her colleague Bonnie Sumner and former human rights and race relations commissioner Joris de Bres made the submission on behalf of the mother to the CCRC and are waiting to learn if it has been accepted for formal review.
Set up in 2020, the CCRC reviews cases in which there is a potential miscarriage of justice or unsafe conviction. It can refer them back to a court to hear an appeal.
The late turn of events also coincides with the launch of Fractured Season 2, promising to unravel further flaws in the case, first highlighted in September 2024 by Newsroom Investigates on the Delve podcast channel.
Reid said: “It is not usual for us as journalists to be making submissions to the CCRC, but in this case I felt like we had no choice.
“This mother had her baby uplifted at 10 weeks old and her child is now six. The removal of her child and her subsequent conviction is based on medical evidence that we can now prove is flawed.
“There is growing concern internationally among medical and legal experts about the misdiagnosis or the over-diagnosis of child abuse, and New Zealand is no exception.”
Almost four years ago, the woman, who was living in Auckland, was convicted of intentionally hurting her infant daughter. At her sentencing, the judge described the medical evidence as “overwhelming”.
During her three-week trial, four doctors from Starship Hospital told the jury the injuries the newborn baby had suffered were non-accidental and amounted to ‘abusive head trauma’, the rebranded term that replaced ‘shaken baby syndrome’.
No expert medical witnesses appeared for the mother’s defence. She was found guilty and sentenced to two years and seven months in prison. She has always maintained she did not, and would not, hurt her daughter.
Reid’s international inquiries into the medical diagnosis revealed the baby had an existing metabolic condition; that the number of fractures was more indicative of a bone condition than abuse; at least some of the babies injuries occurred during birth; and the baby’s extremely low levels of vitamin D were not given adequate consideration.
All experts interviewed for the Fractured investigative podcast categorically believe abuse by the mother against this baby was highly unlikely.
Fractured Season 2 will be available to subscribers on the Delve platform from Wednesday February 26.
The news of the cancelled deportation left the mother and father of the little girl in tears. Zita said: “I’m so happy. And also I don’t have the words to say thank you enough to you guys – Melanie, Joris and Bonnie. Ma’am, you are just like a god angels for me right now. I feel like something that happened that [I] never expected.”
An emotional de Bres expressed relief at the minister’s decision. “I don’t know how many processes we’ve been through, but this at least now opens the door to a proper examination by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, a re-examination of her conviction and gives her the ability to be here to pursue that. And for all that time, hopefully the whole family will be in one place.”
“Sitting at the back of this all the time was when she came out of prison she was going to be deported. And this really was the last possibility for her to remain here to pursue her case and to be with her family, with her daughter.”
(The child remains in the care of the state, living with wider family, and the mother has some visitation rights, only, but cannot live with her.)
“The case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, I think, is sufficiently strong to have convinced the minister that it ought to be investigated properly, and she ought to be able to pursue that, and to do that she would be able to remain in New Zealand,” he said.
“And it definitely centres absolutely on the fact that we are now on the point of the CCRC looking at the safety of their conviction.
“This is about being fair, and without the evidence that Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner have collected and without the case being put to the CCRC with that evidence, I think Zita would be on her way home.
“We have good evidence that this is not a safe conviction and that in fact the whole diagnosis internationally of shaken baby syndrome or abusive head trauma is under question.”
Reid added: “We are obviously delighted for the couple who have endured more than many of us could imagine. As well as the couple having their baby taken off them, the mum has served a jail sentence and they have all lived for nearly 18 months under the daily threat of being deported. They told us that with this news they feel like they can breathe again.
“I think it is a sensible decision by the minister considering this is potentially a miscarriage of justice and there is a much wider systemic issue that needs to be looked into. I have no doubt he is likely aware of what’s going on internationally around the uncertainty of the medical diagnosis.”
Starship Hospital, in a statement to the Fractured podcast issued through Health NZ, says it cannot talk about Zita’s case for a range of reasons, and encourages people to raise any issues about their care with the hospital or the Health and Disability Commissioner.
But it added: “We are confident of the expertise of our Starship Child Protection team and the work they do in conjunction with NZ Police and other relevant agencies.”
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/02/22/minister-cancels-fractured-podcast-mums-deportation/
