A 42-year-old unemployed man due to go to on trial for assaulting a woman and abducting her child pleaded guilty today before the trial began.
At Wellington District Court this morning Simon Kelly pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and abduction of a child under 16.
Crown prosecutor Mark Anderson said Kelly approached the 33-year-old woman and her two-year-old child, on Wellington's Dixon Street in January saying "That is not your baby".
Kelly then grabbed the child's pram, kicked the woman, elbowed her in the face and took off down the street, Mr Anderson said.
Members of the public intervened and retrieved the child.
In a statement to police Kelly said a witch had punched the woman because she had someone else's baby.
Judge David McKegg said Kelly had a well-established history of mental illness and was already undertaking court-ordered treatment.
"Your situation is regarded optimistically. You've admitted the charge and that is a step forward," he said.
Kelly was remanded on bail until sentencing on February 27.
