The Press
May 7 2008

Nurse tells of wound

A nurse treating critically ill Charlene Makaza found "a wound you would never forget".

Nicola Ferguson told the High Court in Christchurch yesterday that she was called in to the intensive care unit on January 6 last year because the hospital was short-staffed.

Nurses had been unable to read Charlene's temperature in the usual manner, via the ear, so it was decided to take a rectal reading.

Ferguson then noticed blood on her glove, and found Charlene had an open wound, about 4cm to 5cm in diameter.

Asked to describe the injury further, she said it was "a wound you would never forget".

George Evans Gwaze, 56, faces a charge of murdering Charlene, his adopted daughter, and two charges of sexually violating her.

The trial continues today.