A Ministerial inquiry recommending changes to better protect children has been released following the sentencing of a woman who "tortured'' her nine-year-old daughter.
The 31-year-old woman, who has name suppression to protect the identity of her children, was sentenced in Auckland District Court today to seven and a half years' imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of five years.
She had previously pleaded guilty to 25 charges, including assaulting the girl with a machete and hammer, kicking her in the crotch while wearing workboots, tearing off her toenail and pouring salt and boiling water on wound, and writing abusive comments on the girl's body.
Crown prosecutor Lorraine McDonald told the court today that some of the abuse "amounted to torture''.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett this afternoon released the ministerial inquiry, which looked at the girl's case, as well as other matters relating to the welfare and protection of children.
"This child was subjected to cruel and barbaric abuse from her own parents in an unusual case where the mother manipulated many into thinking she had her child's best interests at heart,'' Ms Bennett said.
The inquiry, which was conducted by former ombudsman Mel Smith, included 13 recommendations.
They included better information sharing, new Child Youth and Family workers for schools, mandatory reporting of abuse and neglect, urgent research on kinship care, and a new Child Protection Court.
The woman's husband has pleaded guilty to three charges of assaulting the girl, two of which involve the use of a vacuum cleaner pipe and a broomstick. He will be sentenced in February.
