http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3569384
I hate him, says kicked mother
5:05 AM Saturday May 29, 2004
By BRIDGET CARTER
The mother of Shaun Metcalf's baby says watching the rising league star who tried to kill her unborn baby turn out for the Warriors was like another kick in the guts.
She says she hates Shaun Metcalf and he deserves the jail sentence imposed on him and two mates for their vicious attack on her last August.
The family of the shy, South Auckland 17-year-old told the Weekend Herald they were disgusted when they saw Metcalf play a pre-season trial game for the Warriors after he had been charged with attempting to procure an abortion.
The Warriors development squad member was held up as a future international and, with his co-offenders - also junior Warriors - was selected last year for the New Zealand Rugby League's under-16s side to Queensland.
His victim's family say it was hard seeing Metcalf play for the Warriors while he was protected by name suppression, knowing what he had done.
All three youths withdrew from the touring team and their Warriors contracts have been terminated.
Metcalf has been jailed for 18 months. The baby he failed to kill is a well and happy 5-month-old.
His victim says she believes her former boyfriend has little remorse.
"I don't think Shaun is sorry for what he has done even though he said he was sorry," she says.
Metcalf, 16, took his friends Geoffrey Ruaporo and Kyle Donovan to a park to meet the woman.
She was dragged from her car and repeatedly kicked in the stomach then left bruised and bleeding in a dark carpark next to a sportsfield in Mangere.
Ruaporo, who helped to plan the attack, was also jailed for 18 months when the three youths appeared in the Manukau District Court on Thursday for sentencing.
Donovan, who tried to stop the attack, was given 15 months.
All three were granted leave to apply for home detention.
They pleaded guilty to attempting to procure an abortion, aggravated robbery and injuring with intent.
The victim was a schoolgirl when, through a friend, she met Metcalf, who was turning heads on the rugby league field as a fast and strong centre.
She did not tell her parents about their one-month relationship until she discovered she was pregnant.
She says Metcalf kept asking her to have an abortion, but at five months into the pregnancy it was too late.
Her parents wanted to meet him so they knew where he stood. If he had wanted nothing to do with the baby, he could have walked away.
The night before the family meeting, on August 8 last year, Metcalf acted on the plan he had devised when the victim told him that playing netball, which she loved, might cause her to lose the baby.
With Ruaporo and Donovan in his car, he drove to where he had arranged to meet the victim.
Donovan was told to wait in the car, then grab her cellphone, "no matter what".
The other youths, wearing balaclavas, tried to open her car door but she drove off.
Not realising her attacker was the father of her baby, she rang him and arranged another meeting.
This time she was dragged from the car and set upon. Donovan took her cellphone, then stepped in to stop the attack.
The victim - her arms severely bruised from trying to shield her unborn child - made her way to a shop and called home.
In court, Judge Andrew Becroft said the attack was planned, callous and extremely serious. It was beyond belief, and unacceptable in a civilised society.
The judge was given references for Metcalf from his manager, former Warriors and Kiwi coach Frank Endacott, and present Warriors and Kiwi coach Daniel Anderson.
Family and friends said the attack was out of character for all three.
Donovan's mother, Audrey Tuki, said what her son had done was "beyond belief".
Metcalf's grandfather, Roy Metcalf, said he was a "great kid, a marvellous kid" whose father, Todd, a transporter and league referee, was devastated.
Roy Metcalf said his grandson's parents had fought over custody of him and he had been dragged around the country by his mother, who was a convicted fraudster.
His grandparents stepped in to care for him and his brother - also a sporting talent - when they were put in care after their mother was jailed. "I believe they [the three boys] had to get something [punishment] because it could have been my daughter, but why he did it I'm blowed if I know," Mr Metcalf said.
Todd Metcalf believed the victim's child might not be Shaun's, and the youth's mother had asked for proof through DNA testing.
The victim's family said the child did not have Metcalf's name on the birth certificate, but they wanted family support.
The proud young mother says she loves her baby very much.
She is rebuilding her life, back playing netball and doing school through correspondence, but she lacks confidence and never wants to be alone, or go out.
Her daughter, born in December, is thriving and the family want permanent custody of her.
Of the father, whom she spoke to after the attack only at a family group conference through a microphone and then saw in court, she never wants to see him again.
