Devonport toddler death: Mother charged with manslaughter after child dies on New Year’s Day

The mother of a 3-year-old boy who died on New Year’s Day in Auckland’s Devonport has been charged with manslaughter over her son’s death.

The woman appeared this morning for the first time in the North Shore District Court, where she was granted interim name suppression.

Court documents allege the woman, in her 30s, had a legal duty as a parent to protect the child from the injury that caused his death and therefore committed manslaughter.

Detective Inspector Aaron Pascoe, who investigated the case, told the Herald today that it was an “extremely tragic case”.

He could not comment further while the matter was before the courts. The woman is due to appear in the High Court at Auckland later this month.

Emergency services were called to a home on Kerr St in Devonport about 11pm on January 1 where they found the boy’s body.

A neighbour, who did not want to be identified, earlier told the Herald that she heard an adult and children swimming and playing in a pool at the property from about midday until 3pm on New Year’s Day.

“I could hear kids jumping in the pool until about three, then it went silent. The owners were on Waiheke, we had no idea who the people were, and that’s what is puzzling us all,” she said in January.

Kerr St is a coveted, leafy address known for its mix of historic villas, cottages and character homes, close to the Devonport village.

Another neighbour told the Herald at the time of the boy’s death that the street was a tight-knit community where “everybody knows everybody”.

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