The mother and grandmother of three-year-old Moko Rangitoheriri have given powerful testimony at the inquest into his death on Wednesday.
Moko died on August 10, 2015 following weeks of abuse and neglect at the hands of an early childhood teacher his mother considered a friend, Tania Shailer, and David Haerewa. The pair was convicted of manslaughter and each sentenced to 17 years behind bars.
When Moko suffered his fatal injuries, his mother Nicola Dally-Paki was looking after her other son at Auckland's Starship Hospital.
She wasn't allowed to stay at Ronald McDonald House or Women's Refuge with her children, because she had a history of being in a violent relationship - posing a risk to other guests.
"Perhaps if I had been judged less harshly, Moko would be alive today," she says.
She has a message for women in violent relationships - get out as soon as you safely can.
"Start planning, have an ID, there's an app, don't be afraid to ask for help. It's something I'm still accepting. I don't want anybody to look at me as any weaker. When you leave, don't look back," she says.
She tried sneaking Moko into the ward to stay with her, but kept getting caught by nurses, so she drove the toddler and his sister to Taupo to stay with an early childhood teacher she'd known since high school - Tania Shailer.
"I didn't do a background check, police check. I knew Tania Shailer from childhood, it was better than putting them into a gang life," she says.
"The last thing I remember seeing was my son crying for me."
But instead of looking after Moko, Shailer and Haerewa abused him. Over the course of several weeks, Moko was kicked, thrown, dropped, bitten and stomped on. He died of brain swelling and internal ruptures from being kicked in the stomach.
His grandmother Nicola Rangitoheriri said she raised the alarm with Child, Youth, and Family, and claims the agency didn't physically check on her grand-children.
"I screamed and yelled but no-one heard me or helped me. My Moko screamed and yelled but no-one heard him. I ask, how are we meant to be a voice for all our babies when no-one hears us?" she asked.
"I have no more scream and yell [sic]. I only have silent tears from within my heart and soul. No-one can hear those but I pray to God that everyone in this room can feel them."
Coroner Wallace Bain compared the list of Moko's injuries to those of Nia Glassie's, the three-year-old killed in 2007 after being beaten and kicked, swung on a clothes line and put in a tumble dryer set to hot.
"We thought then nothing could get as bad. It seems what happened to her was kindergarten compared to what you read out," he said.
There were six different social agencies and ten different people involved with Moko's family around the time of his death. Coroner Bain wants to find out how could Moko's death have been prevented.
But nothing will bring him back to his mother, who faces life without him and her other children.
"I did everything in my power to keep my children safe, and stay alive," Ms Dally-Paki says.
"I am excluded from my children's life now, the best I get is an email."
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