Selica Wright: Auckland house of horrors abuser seeks reduced sentence
Selica Wright, a woman convicted of extreme child torture, is appealing her 10-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Her lawyers argue that her own history of childhood trauma should have been given more weight during sentencing.
Why it matters
The case highlights the ongoing legal and ethical debate regarding how intergenerational trauma should influence criminal sentencing for severe violent offenses.
WARNING: This story contains details that may be distressing
A woman who is serving a prison sentence for child torture – having forced a boy to eat faeces, burned him with boiling water and encouraged him to commit suicide, among other inhumane acts – has asked the Court of Appeal to show her mercy based on her own childhood mistreatment.
Selica Romana Wright, 36, was sentenced in Auckland District Court last year to 10 and a half years’ imprisonment, with Judge Kirsten Lummis ordering that she serve at least half the sentence before she can apply for parole.
While delivering the sentence , Judge Lummis said the “extreme violence and sadistic nature” of Wright’s offending was at a level rarely seen in New Zealand courts.
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