The trial proper of five people on charges relating to the brutal death of three-year-old Nia Glassie will get down to business tomorrow, when the Crown opens its case in the High Court at Rotorua.
Today, a jury of eight men and four women was empanelled and Justice Judith Potter dealt with administrative matters in chambers this afternoon.
But earlier in a surprise move, two of the defendants pleaded guilty to assaults on Nia and two older children.
Brothers Michael and Wiremu Curtis, now aged 22 and 19 respectively, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the Rotorua toddler in July last year.
Lisa Kuka, Nia's mother and the former partner of Wiremu Curtis, has denied manslaughter. So too have Michael Curtis' girlfriend Oriwa Kemp, 18, and a cousin of the brothers, Michael Pearson, 20.
The indictment also variously names some and all of the accused on three charges of wilful ill treatment and 20 alternative charges of assault.
They relate to alleged events including hanging Nia on a clothes line and spinning it around until she fell off, plus putting the little girl in a clothes drier and turning it on.
This morning Kemp pleaded guilty to assaulting Nia and two other girls, aged 10 and eight, by throwing shoes at them.
And, in a move that surprised even his lawyer, Wiremu Curtis admitted two assaults against the older children by performing wrestling moves on them.
Justice Potter urged jury members, all middle-aged or younger, to "put entirely out of your minds" the "extensive and detailed" publicity about the case over the last year or so.
Nia Glassie reportedly suffered terrible abuse and injuries at her Rotorua home over a period of several months.
She was admitted to Rotorua Hospital on July 21, 2007, in a coma and transferred to Starship hospital in Auckland. The toddler died on August 3.
The trial is expected to last about a month.
