The Press
May 22 2008

Sad end to a better life in NZ for a 10-year-old girl

DIED IN HOSPITAL: HIV-positive Charlene Makaza's short life came to an awful end last year.

Charlene Makaza came to New Zealand for a better life.

She and sister Charmaine were adopted by their uncle, George Gwaze, and his wife, Sifiso, after their parents died of Aids-related illnesses in Zimbabwe. Sifiso Gwaze and the girls' mother were sisters.

The family moved to New Zealand to escape the regime of Robert Mugabe. Charlene had adapted to the cold of Christchurch and was settling into Wairakei School, Bryndwr, where she was described as a happy girl who liked to help others.

But the 10-year-old's life came to an awful end on January 7 last year.

She died in Christchurch Hospital. Police were called after doctors found apparent sexual abuse.

Charlene was found to be HIV-positive at the hospital and, at Gwaze's trial, the defence, led by Jonathan Eaton, was able to introduce evidence that this may have contributed to her condition.

The family said Charlene's demeanour was normal up to the time she went to bed on January 5 last year.

During the afternoon she had attended a church function that ran into the night, and when she returned home about 10.30pm she went to bed.

Sifiso Gwaze said she spoke to Charlene in the room she shared with her 21-year-old cousin, Nothando Gwaze, at bedtime, and nothing was wrong.

Sifiso Gwaze was woken by an alarm clock at 5.45am to go to her job in a rest home, and she heard unusual breathing coming from Charlene's room.

A check revealed Charlene to be unresponsive, her breathing laboured, with mucus around her mouth and having suffered a bad attack of diarrhoea.

The family called another family member to find the best place to take her. They were advised to go to the 24-hour surgery in Bealey Avenue, in central Christchurch.

Staff there realised she was very sick, and a nurse inserting a painkilling suppository - a method used when someone is unconscious - noticed fresh blood on her hand. Staff at Christchurch Hospital's emergency department were told that sexual abuse was suspected, and Charlene should be examined for it.

At the hospital, an overwhelming infection was the working diagnosis.

Charlene was placed in intensive care, but her condition got worse throughout the day. At night the family was told Charlene, who was now brain dead, was dying. She died about 1.15am on January 7.

Medical examination revealed injuries to the anus and genitals consistent with what doctors considered was possible sexual abuse, and police were notified while Charlene was still alive. Police sent a photographer to the hospital and the first police interview with George Gwaze was held on the night of January 6, before Charlene died.

Forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage concluded an analysis of Charlene's brain showed effects of profound hypoxia. He concluded the anal and genital injuries could not be explained by natural conditions, or accident, and were consistent with forcible penetration. They must have been painful, but were not life-threatening.

The stopping of her breathing had to be the possible cause of her collapse, Sage said.

Gwaze was arrested a few weeks later when Charlene's underwear, taken from a washing machine after being laundered, was found to contain traces of his DNA.

Gwaze was initially remanded in custody, but lawyer Jonathan Eaton successfully applied for bail, which was granted considering the time to trial and that Gwaze had a relative he could live with in Auckland.

At trial, Eaton said there was no sexual assault and Charlene had died of natural causes, most likely from overwhelming infection.

The DNA evidence implicating Gwaze came from a minuscule sample caused by cross-contamination of clothing jumbled in the family washing machine, and scientists could not tell the jury whether it had been taken from the inside or outside of the garment, leaving it for the jury to guess.

If Gwaze had sexually assaulted Charlene, it was while she was sleeping next to Nothando Gwaze, who told the court she saw or heard nothing, having been asleep all night, Eaton said.

The prosecution case was that George Gwaze sexually violated and killed Charlene.

The DNA evidence implicated Gwaze, and the cause of death was most likely suffocation, the Crown said.

During the trial there was a significant development played down by the prosecution but made the most of by Eaton.

A paediatric surgeon, Spencer Beasley, gave evidence during the trial and then attended a medical conference in Hong Kong, where he discussed the case with South African professor Heinz Rode, who had experience with HIV-positive children.

Rode told him that Charlene's symptoms appeared similar to a group of HIV-positive children he had studied who had died suddenly, where the brain deteriorated quickly, and who also suffered from anal tears and diarrhoea associated with their overall condition.

Rode was contacted by New Zealand police, and after legal debate his evidence was allowed into the trial by Justice Chisholm, but on the basis it was hearsay. Rode had said he would need much more information before drawing any conclusions about Charlene.

Eaton elected not to call evidence for the defence, except that of a doctor who said Gwaze had tested negative for HIV.

Summing up for the jury, prosecutor Chris Lange said he felt family members had been less than honest in their evidence. They had tried to portray Charlene as a sickly child, but the jury might think the medical evidence was different.

She suffered anal and sexual injuries that a series of medical witnesses said were probably caused by force, and the DNA evidence was found in the crotch area of the underwear.

Doctors thought death most likely resulted from asphyxia, Lange said.

Eaton argued in his summing-up that the case was complex, the DNA evidence flawed, and if the jury accepted that, the case ended there.

The suffocation theory did not come about until the injuries were found, which could be explained by natural causes, including Charlene's HIV-positive condition, he said.

Gwaze had been a loving father who treated Charlene as his own child, Eaton said.

Serious though it all was, there were occasional moments of mirth during the trial.

A medical witness described Charlene's level of consciousness on a scale used by doctors as a three, the lowest possible. By contrast, the level of everyone in the court was 15, the highest, he said.

There was general laughter because the day before, one of the jurors had fallen asleep, the judge taking a brief adjournment so the juror could be woken up.