Several parents of children at a Christchurch preschool have raised concerns over comments made by a staff member who is the aunt of Ihaka Stokes.

Preschool managers will meet with parents at 5pm after a teacher publicly described her nephew's death as a "terrible tragic accident".

Marrisa Hunton – whose nephew Ihaka Stokes died after what police called a "violent assault" – has been cautioned by the Christchurch childcare centre and is not at work.

Police charged a 22-year-old man with murder after 1-year-old Ihaka died on July 3. The man has name suppression.



Christchurch preschool Montessori at St Albans sent a letter to parents concerned about Marrisa Hunton's online comments in the wake of her nephew Ihaka's death.

In the July 23 letter sent on behalf of the preschool, BestStart Education and Care Centres chief operations officer Fiona Hughes said several parents had made contact and a meeting would be held to discuss the issue.

"These concerns relate to the activities of a relative of Ihaka Stokes' family who is also a teacher employed at the centre," she said.

"The activities include some public comments made by our teacher on the case in support of her family. Some parents have expressed concern about these views and how that impacts on their feelings about their children attending the centre and being cared for by a teacher holding such views."

Hunton, who is the sister of Ihaka's mother Mikala Stokes, made several comments on social media during a police homicide investigation into Ihaka's death but before charges were laid.

It included comments on Facebook saying the death was the result of an accident. Her comments were published in the media.

"This little boy was not murdered he died in a terrible tragic accident," she wrote.

She said the media were "out for a story" and did not care how it was portrayed "as long as it gains attention".

Police said Ihaka suffered several fractured bones and other non-accidental injuries in an "extremely violent assault, or assaults".

Hughes said Hunton had been cautioned but was not disciplined over the comments. She had not returned to work and would not do so "whilst we are working through this process".

Hughes said it was a complicated situation and there was no easy solution.

"We were aware of quite a lot of activity on various websites and so forth around the perceptions that Marrisa holds, so that has an impact for her as a teacher in terms of those parents and their views and I'm seeking to find out what they are.

"As you can imagine, she's going through a very difficult situation herself, and so we have taken some steps to support her in that and one of them is deciding when she feels fit to return to work."

Hughes did not know when Hunton would return but it could depend on what happened in discussions with parents.

Parents could express their views at a meeting planned for Tuesday night.

A Ministry of Education representative had been invited to attend.

Ministry sector entablement and support head Katrina Casey said an invited representative would attend the meeting to see what help could be offered.



"However, disputes between teachers and ECE [early childhood education] centres are usually employment matters, which we would not be involved with."

A Ministry traumatic incident team had been providing support to parents and staff at the ABC St Albans early childhood centre Ihaka attended, Casey said.



The 22-year-old man, who has name suppression, will reappear in the High Court in Christchurch on Friday.