A west Auckland father faces a jail term when he is sentenced today for his part in the sustained and horrific parental abuse of two children.
Dubbed one of the country's worst abuse cases in which a child has lived, the 31-year-old mother was last year sentenced to seven and a half years' jail, with a non-parole period of five years.
The 33-year-old father will appear in Auckland District Court today for sentencing after earlier admitting two representative charges of child abuse; neglect or cruelty of a child and assaulting a child.
The maximum penalty for neglect of a child is five years in prison, while the maximum penalty for assault on a child is two years.
The couple have name suppression to protect the identity of their children, who were nine and seven when the abuse was discovered in 2010.
The girl was found hiding in a cupboard in her home. She was starving, dehydrated, bruised and suffering from broken bones and anaemia from internal bleeding and her scalp had been half torn off.
The mother, who had written to Prime Minister John Key asking for help before the abuse was uncovered, pleaded guilty to 25 charges, including tearing off the girl's toe nail and pouring boiling water and salt over the bleeding toe.
She wrote abusive comments on the girl's body, kicked her in the vaginal area, and assaulted her with weapons, including a machete, broom handle and table leg.
More than 25 social agencies had dealt with the family, and a ministerial inquiry into the case made 13 recommendations to prevent such abuse going undetected and unaddressed.
NZN