ROTORUA, New Zealand, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A witness testified in a New Zealand courtroom that he saw a child being tormented by a group of adults who roughly spun her on a rotating clothesline.
Rawhiti Simione said he witnessed the incident that led to the death of 3-year-old Nia Glassie in the backyard of her home in Rotorua. The New Zealand Herald said Wednesday that he testified he did not think the adults were playing with the girl as they had been with another tot who had been spun around on the clothesline.
"It was like she was chucked up there," Simione testified Tuesday in the trial of the five adults charged in Nia's death on July 18.
Simione stated that another youngster had been given a ride of sorts on the backyard device and had been helped down affectionately; however Nia was treated more roughly when she whined for a ride of her own and was plunked back on the line after falling off.
"She tried to grab onto whatever she could hold," Simione said. "She wasn't on there long before going through the wires and falling back to the ground."
