On the morning of October 22, 2020, Rawhiti was looking after Clarity by himself. Clarity’s mother had caught a bus to Hamilton to see her children from a past relationship.

Rawhiti said he woke to his son crying. He confirmed he “hurt him” but couldn’t remember exactly how.

He told the court he remembered twisting his son’s arm. “I remember the click.”
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hen asked how, he explained matter-of-factly: “Just bending the arm… I just snapped it.”

He also remembered punching Clarity in the face. How many times? He could not be sure.

Rawhiti said he picked his son up by the legs and swung him so his head hit the sofa: “I wanted him to stop crying.”

He described hearing his son take a deep breath, possibly his last, and running outside with the boy in his arms to get him air.

“I was shocked and confused about what I just did. I didn’t know what was going through my head at the time to do that.”

Rawhiti knew he had caused serious injuries to his son. Medical experts said the damage would have been apparent straight away.

But instead of ringing an ambulance, Rawhiti searched videos on YouTube, including one titled: “What to do if your baby’s not breathing.”

An hour passed before Rawhiti went to neighbours to borrow a phone. Even then, Rawhiti asked to call Healthline instead of an ambulance.

“I was trying to find ways to help him without anyone knowing that I had hurt him.”

Rawhiti made enough admissions to ambulance and firefighters on the scene for them to know the baby had not died from an accident, but had been assaulted.

Rawhiti said: “I done it. I done the damage.”