A Northland woman charged with ill-treating a two-year-old girl by placing her in luggage on an intercity bus has been judged insane.
Auckland District Court judge Paul Murray found the case against the woman was proven, but she was deemed not criminally responsible and was to be treated as a mental health patient.
The 28-year-old woman, who was earlier granted permanent name suppression, placed the child in a suitcase stowed in the luggage compartment of a bus travelling from Whangārei to Auckland in August 2025.
The child was discovered by the driver an hour into the trip, during a scheduled stop in Kaiwaka. She was found to be very hot and sweaty.
Police had alleged the girl faced serious risks including suffocation and psychological trauma.
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