Trial
After a four week long trial ending in November 2008 Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, 35, was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter: one for failing to obtain medical treatment for the toddler before her death in August last year, and one for failing to protect her. Lisa's partner Wiremu Curtis, 19, and his brother Michael, 22, were found guilty of murder and face sentences of life in prison. Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, 20, and Michael Curtis's partner Oriwa Kemp, 18, were found not guilty on manslaughter charges but were convicted of child cruelty. Presiding Judge Judith Potter openly wept as she delivered the sentences and after thanking equally affected shaken jurors for coping with the case went so far as to offer them counselling.
William Curtis, the father of the Curtis brothers, and the first cousin of Hollywood actor Cliff Curtis, also faces charges for the alleged abuse of Nia concerning an earlier alleged incident but as of November 2008 no trial date has been set for him.
Read more about this topic: Nia Glassie Abuse Case
Famous quotes containing the word trial:
“You don’t want a general houseworker, do you? Or a traveling companion, quiet, refined, speaks fluent French entirely in the present tense? Or an assistant billiard-maker? Or a private librarian? Or a lady car-washer? Because if you do, I should appreciate your giving me a trial at the job. Any minute now, I am going to become one of the Great Unemployed. I am about to leave literature flat on its face. I don’t want to review books any more. It cuts in too much on my reading.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 9:32-33.
Job, about God.