A 13-year-old Invercargill boy has admitted to shaking a baby, leaving her with critical head injuries, police say.
The 7-month-old girl was admitted to Southland Hospital on Tuesday having seizures and was found to have a brain bleed and broken ribs.
She was flown to Auckland's Starship children's hospital, where she was still in a critical condition yesterday.
Detective Sergeant Mark McCloy, of Invercargill, said she had undergone emergency surgery and her doctors were confident she would survive, although it was too early to say what her long-term prognosis was.
Police were called by ambulance officers to the Bay Rd, Invercargill, address where the children lived, at 11pm on Tuesday. Det Sgt McCloy said the boy was a relative of the 7-month-old girl and that he had admitted that he shook her.
The boy had been referred to the police youth aid section. He was removed from the house and was in a CYF secure unit in Christchurch.
Children under 14 are unable to be charged with any crime other than manslaughter or murder.
Police and CYF were working with the whole family, Det Sgt McCloy said.
He confirmed other children were living in the Bay Rd house.
CYF chief executive Ray Smith said all the children living at the house had been taken into the custody of CYF, as was the usual procedure when police began an investigation of how a child was injured.
