Charlene Makaza, who prosecutors say was murdered by her uncle, was a "quiet and sweet little girl'' who was often unwell and had to be showered, dressed, and fed by her aunty, a court was told today.
The evidence came on the third day of the High Court retrial in Christchurch of George Gwaze, a 60-year-old Zimbabwean vet accused of raping and murdering his young niece in Christchurch in 2007.
The Crown alleges she was raped and suffocated by her uncle who she knew as "dad''.
He has denied one count of murder and two charges of sexual violation.
Gwaze's wife of 32 years told the court today that Charlene was "a little bit different'' from her other five children at the same age.
Sifiso Gwaze, 57, told the jury of seven men and five women that Charlene - who was diagnosed the day before she died at Christchurch Hospital in January 2007 as being HIV positive - was often unwell and unable to go to school.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel James Rapley, Mrs Gwaze said she often had to feed her niece, who called her "mum'', to make sure she ate enough.
She also bathed and showered her, and even had to dress her for school and church.
"Charlene was a little bit different,'' she said.
Yesterday the court was told that Charlene's mother - Mrs Gwaze's younger sister - died of tuberculosis in Zimbabwe in 1998.
The girl's father died two years later and, despite having four children with Mr Gwaze and another from a different relationship, Sifiso took 5-month-old Charlene and her older sister Charmaine into her care.
Today Mrs Gwaze, a rest home night-shift worker, said that the family adapted to cope with living with Charlene, who had more needs than the other children.
She never participated in PE at school, and while her other siblings were "playing rough and tumble outside'', Charlene preferred to "sit in the house''.
"If she took part in any physical activity, she felt tired,'' Mrs Gwaze said.
The court was told that Charlene also found going to the toilet "painful''.
She enjoyed school but was struggling with her schoolwork, said Mrs Gwaze.
Her husband, a former vet to the Zimbabwean government who migrated to Christchurch in 2005 to escape the Mugabe regime, had worked in Christchurch at a lab technician, she said.
The trial continues.
