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Offender Databases Moera Pokoati

Moera Pokoati

Alias

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Offences

Assaulted her eight year old daughter using a chair as a weapon in south Wellington in March 2004
Also common assault

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1968

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 9 months imprisonment in June 2004

Background
Dominion Post article 8th June 2004
A MOTHER who assaulted her eight-year-old daughter with a chair because she did not correctly tidy the house has been jailed for nine months. Moera Pokoati, 36, of Newtown pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting a child using a chair as a weapon and assault. Wellington District Court judge John Walker jailed her, saying she showed little remorse and still blamed some things on the girl. In March, Pokoati threw a metal chair at her daughter after telling the girl to boil some eggs when she came home from school. Pokoati became angry after she discovered the girl had not turned the stove on properly. One of the chair legs hit the girl in the head. A few days later, Pokoati told the girl to tidy up and hang up washing. When the girl had not hung up some towels, Pokoati began punching her round the head and did not stop until the girl tidied up correctly. The girl received a bleeding nose, bruising, swelling to her head and face and a bruised right leg.

Pokoati told police she did not like the girl to get too lazy at home and she got angry when the girl took too long to tidy up. Judge Walker said the girl was only eight and had been beaten till she did what her mother wanted. He said jail was to be the sentence and he refused her leave to apply for home detention. The judge said there had to be a clear message sent that such violence against children would not be tolerated as they were the most vunerable members of society. He told Pokoati that she had to stop the cycle. Defence lawyer Phil Mitchell said it was a classic cycle of violence case, with Pokoati being beaten as a child and in a violent relationship at the time of the offending. He said Pokoati no longer had her daughter or another child in her care and wanted to do a violence intervention and anger management programme. She was receiving counselling for her drinking and was no longer a threat to her children. Mr Mitchell said Pokoati wanted to turn her life around and be fit for motherhood again.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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