Handicapped woman 'beaten, neglected and dumped'

Last updated 16:29 08/02/2010

An intellectually impaired woman was beaten in her caregivers' house and left without medical help until she died days later, a court was told today.

The body of Patricia Joseph, 37, was found floating in the Wairoa River, near Clevedon, south of Auckland, by two kayakers on January 20, 2008.

The trial of a man and woman charged over Ms Joseph's death began in the High Court in Auckland today.

Joseph Proude, 47, and Here Teinakirai, 53, both Auckland beneficiaries, pleaded not guilty to one charge of manslaughter by causing death by assault.

However, they entered differing pleas to two other charges, including a second count of manslaughter by omitting to provide Ms Joseph with the necessary medical care between January 1 and 20, 2008.

Proude pleaded guilty to that and also to offering an indignity to Ms Joseph's body, which was wrapped in pieces of cloth and weighed down with a rock.

Teinakirai denied both those charges.

Proude and Teinakirai also pleaded not guilty to various assault charges dating back to October 2006, when Ms Joseph began living with them.

Opening the Crown case, prosecutor Christine Gordon said the two became Ms Joseph's caregivers, but what they provided was anything but a reasonable standard of care.

Family members, who were denied access to Ms Joseph, and neighbours reported seeing and hearing incidents of physical and verbal abuse.

Ms Gordon said both accused knew that the other regularly assaulted Ms Joseph and did nothing about it.

She said that, about January 1, 2008, Ms Joseph, who suffered from incontinence, was again assaulted after she soiled or wet herself on the floor of the house.

She received injuries, the extent of which were unknown, but which left her unable to walk or move from where she lay in the bathrooom.

"Each of the accused blamed the other for the assault that left Patricia injured," Ms Gordon said.

"What is clear, though, is that each of the accused knew she was unable to move from the location where she remained for three to seven days and neither did anything to get any form of medical help for her."

Teinakirai later told police that, when the pair returned from a shopping trip, she went to the bathroom to check on Ms Joseph and found she had died.

Ms Gordon said a plan was then made to dispose of the body.

She said the pair waited until after dark before putting the body in their car and driving to the Wairoa River.

While Teinakirai stayed in the car, Proude found an 11kg rock and then carried the body and the rock to the water.

The top of the torso was covered with blankets used for the family dogs while the lower half was bare except for an incontinence nappy.

When emergency services recovered the body, it had decomposed to the extent that it was not possible to determine race or facial features, or to specify the extent of injuries caused, Ms Gordon said.

For several days, police had no real leads until an officer found a plastic bag at the scene. In it was a social services card with Teinakirai's name.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

Tomorrow, the jury is due to visit the Otara house where the alleged fatal assault took place and the area where Ms Joseph's body was found.

From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3304724/Handicapped-woman-beaten-neglected-and-dumped