"Baby is crying a lot, I don't know what happened."

At 5.27pm on November 7, 2018, an Indian mother in Auckland sent a terse message to her husband. Nine minutes later, she sent it again. Their daughter was eight weeks old, and the couple had spent much of Diwali apart following an argument over household chores.

The mother, whose name is suppressed and is being referred to as Zita, had made 296 calls and sent text messages to her husband Ravi (name changed) that day, including a threat to drink bleach.

Ravi returned shortly afterwards. A neighbour later testified to hearing a baby crying, a man yelling and a woman screaming. Another neighbour, visiting around 9pm, found Zita holding the baby, who appeared asleep or sleepy.

The following morning, the couple took their daughter to a doctor who suspected meningitis and called an ambulance. At Starship Hospital, scans revealed bleeding around the baby's brain, a fractured skull and numerous broken bones.

Doctors concluded the injuries indicated abuse. The Diwali messages became part of the prosecution's case against Zita, who was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to two years and seven months in prison. Ravi was acquitted.

Her first appeal failed in September 2022, with the Court of Appeal describing the medical evidence of non-accidental injury as overwhelming.

But nearly eight years after the hospital admission, four overseas specialists have now challenged aspects of those conclusions, raising questions about whether some of the baby's injuries could have other explanations.

The specialists examined possible links to the baby's difficult birth, vitamin D deficiency and bone health. Their reports prompted New Zealand's Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer Zita's convictions back to the Court of Appeal on October 22, 2026.

The referral does not overturn her convictions or establish innocence. It gives Zita another opportunity to challenge the medical evidence that helped send her to prison and led to years of separation from her daughter.

The evidence that sent her to prison

At trial, a Starship radiologist testified that imaging identified 38 rib fractures involving 18 ribs, five leg fractures, two arm fractures and five toe fractures, alongside a skull fracture. Doctors also identified bleeding around the brain and haemorrhaging in one eye.

Some fractures were healing, suggesting injuries at different times. Prosecutors argued Zita inflicted the older injuries in October and caused the more recent injuries during the Diwali argument. They also relied on her role as the baby's principal caregiver and alleged inconsistencies in her accounts.

Zita denied harming her daughter. Her defence questioned the dating of the injuries and whether an underlying bone disorder had been excluded. The baby had low calcium and very low vitamin D levels, but a Starship specialist testified these could not explain the injuries.

Four medical experts testified for the Crown, but none appeared for the defence. Zita's lawyer challenged the prosecution witnesses through cross-examination, but the jury accepted the Crown's case.

A family torn apart

Their daughter was removed from their care after the hospital investigation and subsequently lived in four foster homes. The parents were required to live separately under bail conditions.

In 2019, Zita's father died in India, but she could not attend his funeral because the court held her passport. That year, the couple also terminated a second pregnancy, later telling RNZ they feared authorities would remove another baby.

Zita had arrived in New Zealand in 2014, completed a business qualification and become a restaurant manager. Ravi joined her after their marriage in India. Their daughter was their first child.

By 2021, Zita was behind bars, serving her prison sentence, while Ravi, despite his acquittal, could not secure custody of their daughter. "I didn't eat for weeks. I cried all the time," Zita recalled.

After her release, Zita faced deportation proceedings, while Ravi's immigration status also remained uncertain. In early 2025, her deportation was cancelled following intervention by associate immigration minister Chris Penk. In April, the Family Court returned custody of their daughter, who was six by then.

The years apart had created other difficulties. The parents told RNZ their daughter knew little about Indian traditions. "She doesn't know anything about Indian culture," Zita said.

Although Zita obtained a work visa in March 2025, she struggled to find employment because of her conviction. At the time of the RNZ interview, she lived with her brother while Ravi and their daughter stayed with relatives. Even after regaining custody, they were not living together under one roof.

Why the conviction is being reconsidered

Former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres, who had been supporting the family, brought the case to Newsroom journalists Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner. They obtained the baby's medical records and scans and sought opinions from overseas specialists.

Their investigation examined the controversy surrounding abusive head trauma, historically associated with shaken baby syndrome.

The debate concerns how reliably can medical findings establish abuse rather than alternative causes. In Zita's case, the overseas specialists questioned aspects of the original interpretation, including whether the baby's difficult delivery and bone health could explain some injuries.

The opinions don't establish a natural cause for the injuries, but they challenge evidence central to her conviction that had not been countered by independent defence medical testimony at trial.

Acting Chief Commissioner Paula Rose said significant expert evidence had emerged that was unavailable to the original jury or the Court of Appeal. The commission considered it in the interests of justice for the convictions to be reconsidered.

The referral is not an exoneration. The Court of Appeal must assess the new opinions alongside the original prosecution evidence. Health New Zealand has previously said Starship stands by its child-protection team's expertise.

For Zita, the appeal offers another chance to challenge a conviction that has affected her employment, immigration status and family life.

"I'm not planning much because the last time I did, things didn't end well," she told RNZ in June 2025. "My only dream is to live with my husband and daughter as a family."