Cherishsiliala
Tahuri-Wright
2002 - January 31,
2006
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All Nofosione
Wright is asking is for someone to tell him why his daughter has died.
Nofosione is upset,
shocked and angry about the death of his daughter, Cherish. Cherish was
found with severe head injuries in the house where her maternal
grandmother, her
grandmothers partner and a one other child, on February 17, 2009. Two days
later, Cherish would be taken off of life support and she would die at
Wellington Regional Hospital, she was only three years old.
Nofosione said that
he visited Cherish every night. Living in Cannons Creek, which is near
Poiriua, where Cherish lived with Gina Marie Tahuri, her mother he would
take her for rides in the car or to go |
shopping. Nofosione
was planning to buy Cherish her first bicycle this year:
"It's so sad.
I want to know what happened, I still don't know. I just don't know why.
I'm not
thinking well,
I feel like everything that came before Cherish's death was so good, she
was
all I wanted"
Nofosione said that
his daughter was supposed to go to the home of her grandmother, in Marton,
but, only for a few days. He had not wanted her to go at all. Cherish was
going to go to a birthday party. As it turned out, Cherish was there for
almost three weeks.
On February 17, 2009,
an ambulance was called to the home where Cherish lived. Neighbors said
that Cherish was gasping for breath and she was bloodied, before the emergency
services got there.
Nofosione was angry
and said he couldn't even think about going to the home where she lived.
He talked about what a wonderful little girl she was, that she loved the
color pink and she was "getting smart":
"She was always
talking even though she couldn't say the words. When she would say,
"Shut up'",
it wouldn't even come out clearly. It sounded like "shup'"
Police were working
to do a thorough investigation and trying to find out exactly how Cherish
was injured:
"It's a case
of working with medical professionals to see what they can tell us, and
what t
he scene can
tell us, and what the family can tell us, piecing that together to find
how the injuries
were caused"
Kim Perks
Police Central District Communications Manager
On February 19, 2009,
Cherish was taken off of life support and she died. Police launched a homicide
investigation after Cherish was taken off of life support saying that the
injuries she suffered were not being treated as an accident. A post mortem
was done to find out the cause of her injuries:
"Following
detailed consultation we are satisfied that the injuries could not have
been
caused by
accident and that we are in fact investigating a homicide. Cases
involving
children are always emotionally charged so it has been important for us
to take our
time liaising with medical professionals and not jump to any conclusions"
Detective
Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan
Police did investigate
and check out the house where Cherish lived knowing that it was possible
that a homicide had been committed there.
"I take comfort
in knowing that those thorough actions will assist us in seeking justice
for
Cherish and
her family"
Detective Sergeant
Craig Sheridan said that the family of Cherish was cooperating and that
an investigation had been launched, though no charges had been made at
that time and that 20 officers were working on the case along with a team
of ESR scientists:
“It is
tragic news that this little girl has died. From an investigative point
of view nothing has
changed. The
investigation from the outset has been thorough and has been about establishing
how the child
was injured and keeping an open mind. Until we have confirmation of how
the
child was
injured that situation remains the same”
Detective
Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan
A neighbor said that
the grandmother had come to her home and was upset:
"She was jittery
and panicky. She was saying 'I don't know what to do'"
anonymous
neighbor
The neighbor called
police and then an ambulance. The grandmother and the neighbor both went
to see Cherish:
"She was laying
in her bed. It looked like she was asleep, she was sort of gasping for
breath -
they said
it was sort of like asthma. She had bruises on the face, she was bleeding
from
the mouth."
Detective Senior
Sergeant Craig Sheridan, of Palmerston North, who is the head of an investigation
team said:
"It is tragic
news that this little girl has died. From an investigative point of view
nothing has
changed. Our
staff are working very closely with the young girl's family to attempt
to estimate
where the
injury occurred. I see the next three days being pretty full on. We will
be supporting
the family,
but here in Marton we need to be making some progress around the house."
A three year old
boy was taken to Child, Youth And family custody, He was not a sibling
of Cherish. Craig Sheridan said that this was the best option for this
boy at the time. At the time, the grandmother was going to stay with a
friend while the house was being checked. The friend said that the grandmother
was unstable since the child had been taken to the hospital and that the
grandmothers partner was confused about what happened.
On February
4, 2009, there were questions as for why it took the ambulance
crew about 2 1/2 hours to get Cherish to the hospital. The St John Ambulance
stated that an internal investigation was being conducted to figure out
why officers took so much time to call a rescue helicopter for transport.
At 12:15pm, emergency services were called and it wasn't until 2:40pm that
Cherish actually arrived at the hospital:
"It really
pisses me off to think they dicked around for a couple of hours while a
little girl was dying.
You don't
have to be Einstein to work out a child with head injuries has to go straight
to hospital
any parent
would know that instinctively"
Family spokeswoman
and Porirua Deputy Mayor Litea Ah Hoi
The drive from Feilding
is only about 25 minutes away from the home where Cherish was. An ambulance
was sent from Wanganui, however it was called back when it was five minutes
away because a rescue helicopter had been called. At a little before 1:00pm,
the helicopter was called and Cherish arrived at the Palmerston North Hospital
at about 2:40pm.
A paramedic at St
John said that the ambulance officer who had been the first one to respond
asked for backup as soon as he realized that he didn't have the experience
necessary to treat injuries as bad as the ones Cherish had. The paramedic
sighted this as another sign that the ambulance service was at a point
of crisis:
"Why wasn't
she taken taken straight to hospital? That's the big question. This kind
of
disorganization
is normal to us, it happens all the time"
The paramedic also
said he was shocked that Cherish was not taken to the hospital immediately
and that the delay was unacceptable:
"The whole
thing's woefully inadequate. It was 2 1/2 hours before that child got to
hospital. She
was in a critical
state and that's when they need to get to hospital in a very short time"
It was confirmed
by at St John spokeswoman that a local doctor, who was employed by the
ambulance service, was sent to the attend to Cherish after the emergency
call came. Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan claimed that the ambulance
response was "first rate". It was his understanding that the delay was
due to the time it had taken to get Cherish stabilized for transportation.
The criticism of the treatment of Cherish comes along just as the Health
Minister Tony Ryall announced a $10. million dollar injection for the ambulance
sector.
On March 3,
2009, Police confirmed that the investigation had shown the injuries
that were inflicted upon Cherish were
NOT an accident. A homicide
investigation had been started.
On April 2,
2009, St John came out in defense of their care and treatment of
Cherish. Their findings showed that there WAS an immediate response,
by ambulance, to the home where Cherish had been living.
In his statement,
Tony Blaber, St John Operations Director said that the findings show an
Advanced Life Support capable Doctor had been on the scene within 19 minutes
and a double crewed ambulance had arrived within the next minute:
"In addition
a clinical manager with specialist skills, an Advanced Life Support emergency
helicopter
and an Advanced Life Support crew from Wanganui were also mobilized. The
patient received
high level clinical care at the scene and needed to be stabilized
before being
transported to hospital in an air ambulance"
Tony Blaber
The investigation
shows that the care given to Cherish was of a high standard and her treatment
had no impact on the final outcome of the case. Tony Blaber said that further
investigation is required and that and internal investigation is taking
place. The union who represents a group of ambulance offices claims that
St John is short staffed on the ground:
"It needs a
large overhauling and I believe it should ideally be a state run system
either by the fire service or Primary Health Organization"
Jim Bilby
from the Central Ambulance Association
St John agrees and
says it is no secret that they are short of drivers for ambulances:
"We have claimed
often and loud that we are under resourced as an ambulance service"
Tony Blaber
Tony Blaber said
that St John sends their condolences to the family of Cherish and they
want to let them know that this case is being taken very seriously.
The mother of Cherish
said that she often let her mother babysit:
"Mum used to
babysit Cherish often. It was never a problem. She was happy to do it for
me"
Joanne Tahuri originally
told authorities that Cherish had fallen and had been hit by her cousin
who was also a
toddler at the time.
It would eventually be revealed that the Grandmother of Cherish, 57 year
old Joanne Tahuri, had inflicted the injuries to Cherish which caused her
death. Stating that she was under stress for various reasons, Joanne said
that she had hit Cherish and that hit was strong enough to cause the bleeding
between her brain and her skull. Joanne pleaded guilty to manslaughter
in the death of her Granddaughter.
In an unbelievable
move, her defense attorney tried to use the statement that a three
year old cousin had been partly to blame for the death of this beautiful
little girl.
Joanne's partner,
Alan Hunia, said in court that Cherish was quiet, slow and clumsy. Alan
stated that the cousin
of Cherish, who
lives with them was sometimes mean and rough with Cherish. In court he
stated that Chiefy at
times kicked Cherish
and would hit her on the head"
"You just couldn't
trust him at all. He wanted attention all the time. Running down the road
was one of
his favourite pastimes. He wanted attention"
Alan Hunia
Alan said that he
had once hit Joanne in front of Chiefty, he denied other abuse of Joanne
and said of Cherish:
"But I never
ever hit Cherish, I never hit the girl."
UPDATE:
On June 20, 2010,
Joanne Tahuri was found guilty of the death of Cherish. SHOCKINGLY
she was sentenced to
ONLY five
years and nine months of jail time. Below is a short part of a news story
that can be found in the links
provided after this
story:
Justice
Gendall sent Tahuri, 57, to jail for five years and nine months.
Cherish died in
the early hours of February 19 in Wellington Hospital from injuries that
the neurosurgeon said could not have been survived.
Justice Gendall
said Tahuri's assault on her granddaughter was brief and occurred quickly,
which caused Cherish to decline rapidly with bleeding between the brain
and skull.
Only when Judge
Gendall began his address did Tahuri lift her head from her hands as she
sat in the dock.
The trial for
murder opened on May 17, but in the third week Tahuri amended her plea
of not guilty to murder to guilty of manslaughter.
In his submission,
Crown prosecutor Lance Rowe told the court that one blow from "Tahuri's
sudden loss of control was sufficient to cause the fatal injuries to Cherish".
Mr Rowe said the
Crown accepted that there were issues with the middle-aged grandmother
who was legal guardian of another grandchild, also aged three.
He said Tahuri
was not well-equipped and under stress. Tahuri lacked sleep and woke
to a flooded kitchen, but there was no reason why Cherish should have borne
the brunt of her grandmother's loss of control.
Tahuri was seen
by members of the Marton community hitting both her grandchildren, which
Justice Gendall said were aggravating features in her sentencing.
Tahuri was clearly
grief-stricken after hearing the Crown's submission of her actions that
caused the death of her granddaughter.
Defence lawyer
Peter Brosnahan told the court Tahuri was a person with significant functioning
disabilities.
Please
click here to read something that was sent to me by a
friend
of Cherish's mother and see some pictures she also sent.
Read
news articles related to this story.
Return
to Cherish's Story
.
For information about
preventing child abuse in New Zealand, click the links below. If they can't
help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER give up looking for help
for an abused child!
Call this number
to report child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
   
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My sincerest appreciation goes out to
Diane Trembly for allowing me to use one
of her beautiful Angels to make the graphics
for this set. Please visit her site,
by clicking the link below, to see all
of her amazing work.
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