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Once again I have received an e-mail from someone informing me of
a child who has been abused to death. I want to thank Jenny for all of
her help in making it possible to remember a child who went through 
so much needless pain and suffering at the hands of her own parents.
On March 21, 1991, New Zealand authorities received a phone call from  a woman who stated that she had just returned home to find her two year old daughter dead. Claiming she had been away for a couple of hours, Tania Witika, the mother of the child, called from a video store.

The ambulance driver, Martin Smith, found a child laying dead in the fetal position. Delcelia Witika was laying on a piece of filthy plastic which was on her bed. On her bottom, feet and hands were what appeared to be scars from having been burned, Delcelia had bruises over much of the rest of her body and was terribly emaciated. Martin asked Eddie Smith about the burns and was told that Delcelia had fallen into a hot bath a few weeks earlier, but, had not been taken to a hospital for treatment.

The police were initially going to charge only Eddie Smith and Tania
Witika was to be a witness aginst him. Later, it was determined that
Tania was guilty of not taking Delcelia for proper medical treatment.
Tania clamied that Eddie had been beating her as well as abusing
Delcelia, that when she tried to help Delcelia, he would beat her.

Crime scene photos have proven this to be one of the worst cases of
child abuse ever. Delcelia was use as a punching bag, her blood was
splattered throughout the house on carpets and walls. There was a 
pool of blood on the plastic that replaced sheets and a blanket on
Delcelia's bed. Proof that she had vomited during her final night was
found dripping down the bed post. Delcelia's neck showed signs of having been scratched, her mouth was in terrible shape with some of
her teeth having been smashed and upper lip having been torn away
from her gums and she had scars on her scalp where the hair had 
been pulled completely out.

On the night that Delcelia died, Tania clamied that Eddie had held a
knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she did not go to a party
with him. A video provided as testimony, later showed that Tania was
partying and having a good time with Eddie at this party while her
daughter lay at home, dying.

As the investigation went on, charges were increased to include the
willful mistreatment of Delcelia from the months of July 1990 to the 
month of October 1990 causing unnecessary suffering, faling to provide proper, needed medical care for the burns which were discovered to have been the result of placing Delcelia into hot water, murder and manslaughter.

At first, Tania tol the police that she alone was responsible for the
death of her daughter. After finding out that Delcelia had suffered
through massive sexual abuse, she said that Eddie was the one who
had been responsible for most of the injuries. Tania pleaded not
guilty to all charges stating that she suffered from "battered-woman's-
Symdrome" at the hands of Eddie Smith. Eddie blamed everything
on tania. Eddie Smith pleaded guilty to the first three charges but had the nerve to plead not guilty to the others. 

During the trial, Pathologist Jane Vuleic revealed that Delcelia had 
died of Peritonitus which was caused by the blows she took to her
abdomen during the abuse she suffered. Jane Vuleic also stated that
Delcelia suffered from severe malnutrition, burns to 15 percent of her
body, a broken jaw and many other injuries.

The Pathologist at the trial, Jane Vuletic told the court that Delcelia died of peritonitis caused by blows to her abdomen. She said Delcelia also suffered from severe malnutrition, a broken jaw, and burns to 15 per cent of her body and many other injuries.

In December of 1991, Eddie Smith and Tania Witika, were each  sentenced to ONLY 16 years for the torture, abuse and death of Delcelia. A very small price to pay for the life of a child!

Both were sentenced to 16-year prison terms. Neither would serve their full sentence. Tania served only 2/3 of her sentence, Eddie would not
serve much more. Tania was proled in September of 2002 and Eddie in February of 2003. Delcelia was only able to be paroled in death!

In April of 2003, Tania Witika decided that she wanted to be a social
worker and work with young victims of domestic violence, going as far
as to quit her job in order to do so. New Zealand Social Services 
Minister, Steve Maharey has doubts that Tania will ever get to work
with domestic violence victims. While no one is able to stop Tania
from applying for a job with any Social Service Angency, Maharey
says it would be extraordinary if she got front line work. He compared
this scenerio to that of a doctor having been convicted of murder, able
to practive again, saying: 

"I can't imagine it happening." "I just can't imagine anybody 
in their right mind hiring her," 
"Who would take the risk of the public disapproval around that?" 

National's social services spokeswoman, Katherine Rich had this to
say about it"

"It would be a major leap of faith for an employer to offer her a significant position as a social worker," 
"Horrendous life experiences don't necessarily train a person 
to deal with other horrendous life experiences." 



Please don't let them become Angels to soon.

1-800-4-A-Child
Call this number to report child abuse!

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