Teavae Bryce Vaevae in Supreme Court for sentencing over manslaughter of nine-week-old baby

The grieving family of a nine-week-old baby are still waiting for his remains to be released so they can hold a burial service, as sentencing for his killer began in Cairns.

The grieving family of nine-week-old baby Kaison Vaevae are still waiting for his remains to be released so they can hold a burial service, as sentencing for his killer began in Cairns on Monday.

Little Kaison died on June 9, 2021, after being flown to Townsville Hospital on June 6.

Cairns Supreme Court heard on Monday morning that he died after suffering a diffused swelling of the brain that caused cardiac arrest, and a “constellation” of other injuries, including spinal cord, rib and long bone injuries on his limbs.

Rawinia Te Moni (centre) is surrounded by members of her family as they leave court.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Dunkerton told the court those injuries were consistent with Kaison having been shaken.

Teavae Bryce Vaevae, 24, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and he was to have been sentenced on Monday, but that has now been delayed to later in the week.

Mr Dunkerton told the court that Vaevae treated Kaison as his own child even though he was not the biological father.

In March 2021 he and the child’s mother, Rawinia Inez Te Moni, began living together, and Mr Dunkerton told the court Vaevae attended all pregnancy scans and appointments with Ms Te Moni.

The baby was born healthy on April 2 after a C-section.

The court heard Ms Te Moni became ill on May 5 as a consequence of the C-section, and was admitted to intensive care for 10 days, during which time Vaevae had sole care of the child.

Ms Te Moni was discharged in late May, and the court heard that in the two weeks leading up to the baby’s death he had become very unsettled.

At 11.35am on Sunday, June 6, Ms Te Moni’s mother arrived and collected one of the children, and she saw Kaison smiling and surrounded by pillows on the bed, the court was told.

Teavae Bryce Vaevae and Kaison. Vaevae pleaded guilty to manslaughter and will be sentenced later in the week. Picture: Supplied

Ms Te Moni left the house at midday, and not long after Vaevae called her asking her to come home, saying the child was unwell and choking on his phlegm.

He called triple-0 at 12.21pm, and as that call was replayed in court members of Kaison’s family wept in the public gallery of the court.

Vaevae said in the call the baby had fallen off the bed and was not breathing.

The court was told Vaevae denied all responsibility for injuring Kaison throughout his first police interview, a later recorded walk-through of the home, and most of his second police interview on January 29, 2022.

In that interview he initially maintained his account until he was challenged at the end with the autopsy report, when he agreed he picked up Kaison and shook him.

Defence counsel Frank Richards told the court Vaevae was “ill-equipped and ill-prepared to care for the child”.

He told the court Vaevae felt he was unsupported, and described the shaking of the baby as a “momentary loss of self-control”.

Mr Dunkerton told the court the baby had suffered a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage, “consistent with acceleration and deceleration forces”.

The baby’s eyes had areas of retinal haemorrhage and he suffered rib fractures, some of which were pre-existing and already healing at the time of the autopsy, the court heard.

Mr Dunkerton said the Crown had elected not to charge over those earlier rib fractures, which Justice James Henry said “paled into insignificance” with the later injuries.

Justice Henry reserved his decision until Wednesday, and outside the court a visibly upset Ms Te Moni said, “That’s what I was hoping for today, the end”.

One of her sisters added that the family was seeking an end to the ordeal so Kaison’s remains would be released to them, as they have still not been able to bury him.

Originally published as Teavae Bryce Vaevae in Supreme Court for sentencing over manslaughter of nine-week-old baby