Tormented Kahui wept in the rain at grave

A grief-stricken Chris Kahui knelt before the grave of his murdered twin baby sons and wept, refusing to leave their sides despite torrential rain, an Auckland court has been told.

Kahui, 22, is this month on trial at the High Court in Auckland for the murder of his three-month-old sons, Chris and Cru.

The Crown case is that on the night of June 12, 2006, someone picked up the babies and squeezed them so hard their ribs broke, then slammed them against a hard surface causing fatal brain injuries.

Kahui was the only person who had the opportunity to cause those injuries, the Crown alleges.

But his lawyer, Lorraine Smith, alleges the babies' mother Macsyna King most likely killed the infants.

In cross examining Kahui's sister, Mona, this afternoon, Ms Smith painted a picture of a young man tormented by the death of his babies.

After the babies' tangi, Kahui, Mona and another family member decided to go back to their graves, she said.

Kahui dropped to his knees and crying he moved from one grave to another kissing them, Ms Smith said.

Despite torrential rain, he refused to leave their sides.

Eventually he tore himself away and stood up.

"He had dirt all over his hands and knees and his face was streaked with mud and tears," Ms Smith said.

"He was sad," agreed Miss Kahui.

As the young mother and her partner Stuart King – Ms King's brother – lived in the same Mangere house as Kahui and Ms Kings, they too lost their baby daughter Cyene the day the twins were injured - to Child, Youth and Family.

Miss King said CYFs told her she would not get her baby back until someone confessed to the twins' murder.

Under questioning from Ms Smith, she admitted she went to Kahui and told him what had happened and agreed that he would have done anything to help her get Cyene back had he been able.

Cyene remains in care today.

Earlier she had told the court how she picked baby Cru up from his cot on June 12.

His face was pale, his lips turn purple and his eyes rolled back, then he stopped breathing.

Kahui grabbed the baby and spread him on the couch, tipped his head back and began resuscitating him.

Breathing again, baby Cru looked "normal again" although a little sleepy," Ms Kahui said.
"His eyelids were half closed."

In testifying against his son, Banjo Kahui said baby Cru appeared "normal" by the time he got to him.

He had been out on the front porch with Kahui and his daughter Mona having a smoke.

He followed the others into the house and was standing in the hallway when Ms Kahui yelling to her partner, Stuart King, that one of the babies was not breathing.

He raced into the nursery and saw Chris taking baby Cru to the couch to give him CPR.

Unsure he knew what he was doing, Mr Kahui said he took him off and was about to give him "a couple of compressions".

"I think I gave him one," he said.

"But he looked normal to me."

He did not insist an ambulance was called because they were just five minutes from the hospital.

Besides, he was more concerned about the couple's toddler, Shayne, who had bronchitis and a terrible cough.

Instead, he went with Mona to find the twins' mother, Macsyna King, but she was not at her sister Emily's house as planned.

He asked Emily's partner to tell Ms King one of the baby's had stopped breathing and tell her to "get home".

They returned to the Mangere house and slept on a mattress on the lounge floor with Shayne, waking early the next morning to find Chris crashed "flat on his face" on the couch in the babies' nursery.

He left the house and returned later that day, to find Ms King preparing the babies to go out.

They had been changed from the outfits they were wearing the day before and had on their blue "going out" jumpsuits.

"They were going to the doctor's or something I think," he said.

He noticed a bite-like mark on one of the babies' cheeks, he said.

Kahui was a kind and caring person who was never violent with children or anyone else, he said.

"He's not like that," Mr Kahui said.

"I don't need to explain about him. I love my son, he's one of the best ones."

- © Fairfax NZ News