Brutality against Maori infants shocks New Zealanders Source: AFP|Published: Wednesday August 2, 2:28 PM Auckland: They have been scalded, burned with cigarettes, raped, had bones broken and been beaten unconscious, sometimes to death. Horrific cases of Maori youngsters -- some under two years of age -- being tortured, abused and killed by family members that have come to light recently have shocked middle New Zealand and outraged Maori leaders and child advocates. Several Maori leaders are calling for zero tolerance of child abuse, and for Maori extended families and tribal groups to cease protecting and ignoring its perpetrators. While the darker side of Maori life has had international exposure following the success of the film Once Were Warriors which dealt with the rough and ruined lives of down-and-out urban gangs, the issue of child beating has remained taboo. Among the grisly headlines that have dominated the nation's media over recent weeks are stories of a 28-month-old Maori girl in a coma after suffering severe head injuries, a broken arm, cuts, bruises and cigarette burns over most of her body. The toddler's 52-year-old grandmother was being held in prison on assault charges, but police say she may be charged with manslaughter or murder if doctors decide to turn off life support because of the severe brain damage the child has suffered. Police in the central North Island town of Carterton are investigating the death of 23-month-old Maori girl Hinewaoriki Karaitiana-Matiaha who was sexually abused, scalded with hot liquid and beaten before being taken to hospital by relatives. The child, who was put in the care of her grandmother by the Child, Youth and Family Service after consultations with the toddler's family just short of her second birthday, was dead on arrival at Masterton Hospital late Sunday, July 23. And now, a coroner in the east coast town of Tauranga found that two-month-old Marcus Te Hira Grey died from a brain haemorrhage following a severe beating by his father. These cases follow the recent release of a report into the gruesome killing last April of four-year-old James Whakaruru, beaten to death by his stepfather for failing to call him Dad. The stepfather had been jailed once for assaulting the boy, but the youngster endured a lifetime of horrific beatings, despite being under the eye of various child welfare agencies, and his hellish existence went unnoticed. The proportion of extreme cases of brutality towards children among the Maori population -- which makes up about 15 per cent of New Zealand's 3.8 million citizens -- is far higher than for any other ethnic group. Ministry of Health statistics show that Maori children are nearly five times more likely to be hospitalised for injuries sustained from deliberately inflicted harm than non-Maori children. While Prime Minister Helen Clark has said she does not want Maori people to be 'stigmatised' as child beaters, Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said the recent cases of abuse were 'abhorrent,' and there was no excuse culturally for what he terms a 'grubby practice.' He and other prominent Maori leaders recognise that poverty, a lack of education, unemployment and drug abuse may be partly to blame for people resorting to violence. Yet no one seems able to explain what drives some people to such extreme acts of cruelty and sadism. Horomia has backed a call from the national women's refuge collective for Maori leadership and families to start addressing child abuse in their communities. Chief executive of the national collective of independent women's refuges, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, said Maori had to stop 'pussyfooting' around the issue. 'Maori have a very high rate of tolerance of abuse to their children and of their women, and it's about time it came out in the open. It isn't in the open. It is still well covered and shielded,' she said on National Radio. On Television New Zealand's Holmes Show she called for 'zero tolerance' of violence against children and for 'all good Maori men' to speak out against it. Raukawa-Tait firmly laid the blame at the feet of Maori leadership. 'We're talking about insipid gutless leadership that has failed to address the issues that are going down in Maori families right now,' she said. In an impassioned call for an end to violence against children, Maori bishop Muru Walters said on National Radio that the 'shame is that there are so many Maori who are aware of drug-taking, incestuous acts and violence carried out within their own households but are too frightened and ashamed to tell anyone.' 'A real fear for the future is that Maori are breeding families and capable of repeating the same acts,' he said. Commissioner for Children Roger McClay said he had been inundated with calls from people baffled and stunned at the recent deaths. Many asked what they could do. People should be encouraged to intervene and report incidents of children being abused and beaten, he said. He also considered setting up a Society for the Protection of Children, similar to one in Britain, which would educate people on signs of child abuse and to report them. Despite the widely held view that New Zealand is 'a great place to bring up kids' because of the open spaces and clean air, McClay said New Zealand society was tough on children. A government survey revealed that 240 New Zealand children died as a result of brutal treatment between 1975 and 1995, compared with just four in Sweden, whose population is more than twice that of New Zealand's and where physical punishment is outlawed. 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