Baby's family may speak with police 

The parents of a Christchurch baby whose violent death is under investigation say they will talk more to police, if they will give lawyers a list of questions.

Seven-month old Staranise Waru died in Christchurch Hospital in February from injuries she had received two days earlier. A post-mortem examination found she had been shaken violently.

Detectives have been investigating the baby's death for eight months but on Monday complained over a lack of help from family. 

But police claims that the family are stonewalling the investigation are being rejected by the lawyer representing the child's mother.

Lawyer Ellizabeth Bulger says she is not aware of any family members not wanting to talk to police.

She says exercising her right to silence is not a lack of co-operation, and any parallel being made with the Kahui case is not one well made.

"Here we've got a family  who have co-operated, have been co-operating for a long period of time since this baby's death, and before in actual fact. And I can't see that there's grounds for criticism of people who exercise their rights to silence, which is exactly what they're doing," says Bulger.

Allister Davis, the lawyer for Star's father, says police criticism that he hasn't helped is just wrong.
 
"He has told the police everything that they have asked him, and everything that he knows."
 
Davis says the parents are still grieving and just want things resolved.

"They're a young couple. This has impacted heavily on their lives and they want it over and done with," he says. 

But police are defending going public, saying it has already paid off with some new information.

One News has been told there was another relative in the house with the baby, and her parents the morning she was rushed to hospital.

Christchurch barrister James Rapley says the right to silence is an important right in New Zealand society, and police do not need more powers to deal with it.

Rapley says Star's case and the Kahui case are like many where people do not talk to the police. He says people still get convicted and people do not escape the justice system.

Professor Warren Brookbanks of Auckland University says police have only two options when situations like this arise. He says they can either do nothing and wait for the information to come forward, or charge everyone thought to be present at the time of the offence.

Brookbanks says the latter option is very risky as police may not have enough evidence for the case to stand up in court.

He suggests it might be timely for a law revision.

Brookbanks says a review of the Evidence Act is underway, and he believes the right to silence may be being looked at as part of that.

Check out the extra footage from the One News interview with the lawyers that is related to this article