'A house of torture': Boy's abuser seeks reduced prison sentence

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.

While Wright’s lawyer at the time argued “torture” was too strong a word for his client’s actions, the judge said it was an “entirely appropriate” description.

“It is clear [the victim] would like you to be locked up as long as possible,” she said.

Wright did not return to court this month as new lawyers Nicholas Bond and Genevive Vear appeared before the three-judge appellate panel to argue her sentence was too long and should not have included a minimum term of imprisonment.

“That’s a term I can’t shy away from,” Bond acknowledged when Justice Andrew Becroft said it sounded to him like Wright was responsible for “a house of torture”.

“It was terrible offending,” the lawyer conceded. “I accept it.”

Even if Wright’s sentence is reduced, she will still spend a significant amount of time in prison, he said.

“More should have been made [in the district court sentencing] of Ms Wright’s background and how that shaped her,” Bond argued, explaining that her childhood could also “fairly be described as horrific”.

“Ms Wright really is a paradigm example of inter-generational abuse and trauma.”

Campaign of terror

The Glen Eden resident was arrested in October 2023 after her young teen victim escaped to a neighbour’s house and asked for help. His injuries, including a broken spine, were so numerous and disturbing he was taken to hospital in an ambulance.

The abuse started in January 2023 with her slapping or kicking him when “angry over insignificant events” or “problems with her private life”, but the “frequency and the seriousness of the assaults steadily increased”, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case.

Around August 2023, Wright began beating the victim with a metal vacuum cleaner pipe, whacking him on the body and the head with such force the pipe was damaged beyond repair. Wright bought a replacement pipe and also used it for subsequent attacks, court documents state, noting that they numbered at least five before her arrest.

Selica Wright pleaded guilty to the months-long torture of a youth that included repeatedly hitting him with a hammer, pouring boiling water over him and stabbing him with a chef's knife and a screwdriver.

Also during that time, Wright bought a hammer to repair damaged walls but ended up using it at least five times in her ongoing campaign of abuse.

“[He] was struck about the head, body, legs, knees, feet, back, arms and his hands,” court documents state. “[He] sustained multiple deep circular bruises from being struck with the hammerhead. [His] hands were bruised and cut from hammer blows. One of his fingers was broken. His feet were bruised and swollen from being hit repeatedly with the hammer.”

On two other occasions, Wright attacked him with a sword and a spade. She used the flat surface and the pommel of the sword to inflict multiple blows. The flat surface of the spade was used to hit his head but the sharp edge was used to poke at his arms and stomach.

On another occasion, police said, Wright turned on the victim after he spilled some frozen vegetables while cleaning out a freezer. The defendant grabbed a screwdriver and began counting down from five as he scrambled to clean up the accidental spill.

“Ms Wright pushed [the victim] down on the ground and then stabbed him in the back of his head with the screwdriver,” the agreed summary of facts states. “She pushed the screwdriver into his head until it made a bleeding hole in the skin. The hole would not stop bleeding for several days.”

She then, after several days, tried to glue the wound shut. She later tried to remove the glue by pouring petrol over it. When that didn’t work, she repeatedly sprayed Janola, a liquid bleach, on the wound, causing the victim to scream in pain.

The victim believed his broken spine was the result of another attack when she accused him of not using enough soap while washing the clothes. She pushed him with such force that it left two holes in a bathroom wall then beat him with her fists and a length of wood. The victim recalled to police being left bloodied and unable to use his arm for several days.

On another occasion, Wright was angry for a reason unknown to the victim and told him to turn on the kettle as he washed dishes. When the water began to boil, she began to splash water on him. When he tried to duck to avoid the water, she tipped the jug’s contents on him, severely burning his back and arm.

She later noticed the burn-damaged skin and told him it was ugly before again spraying his wounds with Janola.

“I don’t give a f***,” she responded, spraying the cleaning solvent into his face and mouth when he began to scream and say it hurt.

Another time she used a chef’s knife to stab him “about the body”, including a wound deep enough to cause air to enter his chest cavity.

In the month before her arrest, Wright told the youth he should kill himself. When he refused, she threatened to do it for him.

While she didn’t follow through on the homicide threat, in the week before her arrest she began to fixate on faeces, carrying out for the first time what had previously been only threats.

At one point, she stood over him and threatened to hit him with a hammer until he ate dog faeces. She then refused to let him drink water afterwards.

Later, he went to a nearby relative’s house and was given a glass of water to rinse out his mouth. When Wright learned of it, she beat him with the hammer.

The final blitz of terror came on the morning of Sunday, October 22, 2023.

The teen was ordered to take Wright’s dog for a daily run but he was unable to keep up that day because of the recent beatings so he walked the animal instead.

“I’m over this,” Wright said in a rage upon learning of the walk, ordering the victim to retrieve a claw hammer.

She then hit him in the shoulders and chest until he fell to the ground, unable to take breaths. After the beating, she made him eat her soiled toilet paper. He complied, but when he started to vomit she began to stomp on his face, stomach and legs.

She then thrust the end of the hammer at his mouth forcefully and repeatedly until a front tooth snapped and he began to bleed. Later that day, he ran to a neighbour’s home and asked for help after Wright had left to run some errands.

At hospital, medical professionals found seven fractures over multiple areas of the teen’s body, as well as widespread bruising, cuts, burns and puncture wounds.

‘Hair trigger’ for PTSD-induced anger

Wright’s lawyer said during the recent appellate hearing that she has now been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and substance abuse disorder.

There is a “clear and distinct link between her background of horrific trauma and abuse, the resulting mental injury and the offending”, Bond said.

Her disabilities caused a “hair trigger” for “PTSD-induced anger”, which she did not have the capacity at the time to regulate.

Since her sentencing, Wright has made a “sincere effort” at counselling via ACC and “is showing some insight”, he said.

“Selica demonstrates meaningful insight into her patterns,” a psychological report prepared ahead of the appeal noted. “She’s able to identify the connections between her childhood experiences and her adult behaviour.”

The report said she has demonstrated an “opportunity for growth”, which Bond described as a “cautiously positive” prognosis.

Bond also argued the 5% sentence reduction the district court judge allowed for the impact of imprisonment on Wright’s young son should be increased to 10% because of the “deep, emotional bond” the two share.

Justice Andrew Becroft formerly served as Children's Commissioner.

Justice Becroft, formerly New Zealand’s Children’s Commissioner, appeared especially concerned by reports that Wright has not been allowed in-person visits with her son since before her sentencing.

Wright’s lawyers said the “distressing situation” for her child has been the result of a requirement by Corrections that the inmate first undergo a psychological assessment. She’s been on the waiting list for the assessment for about two years, they said. She’s also been on a waiting list for one-on-one counselling through the prison instead of ACC, they informed the panel.

If Wright’s minimum term of imprisonment was abolished, it could speed up the process, they suggested, pointing out inmates closest to parole eligibility tend to be fast-tracked for such programmes.

Crown counsel Michael Regan acknowledged Wright’s PTSD diagnosis. But her ability to know right from wrong wasn’t materially impaired, he argued.

It wasn’t just one slip but “a prolonged and deliberate” course of abuse over months, he said. He disagreed with the defence that the justices should consider the voluminous attacks as “a series of explosive outbursts” rather than a single premeditated course of abuse.

Regan pointed out that without a minimum period of imprisonment, Wright would be eligible to start applying for parole after serving three and a half years. The district court judge did not think that would adequately denounce the offending, he said.

Justice Becroft asked the Crown if the 10% discount that the district court judge had allowed for Wright’s “horrific and deeply damaged background” was enough. Wright’s appellate lawyers sought 15%.

The prosecutor said the earlier judge had not erred with the lower amount.

“This seems to be a very clear case of trauma, and there appears to be a very clear nexus,” Justice Christian Whata said. “She’s not like the rest of us.”

The prosecutor noted that, while he doesn’t dispute Wright’s own abuse claim, she showed little insight or remorse at the time of her sentencing. The district court judge had taken into account a letter intercepted by prison officials that made that point clear, he said.

Selica Wright's lawyers have argued her sentence was too long and should not have included a minimum term of imprisonment. Photo / Alex Burton

“Haha. Do it all again in a heartbeat,” she wrote, suggesting that she would one day “finish what I started”.

“No regrets for me, only that I didn’t do it properly. LOL.”

Wright has since characterised the letter as meaningless “bravado” from a first-time inmate trying to put on a tough air out of fear, her lawyers said.

Justices Becroft, Whata and Rachel Dunningham reserved their decision.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.