Chris and Cru Kahui

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Christopher Arepa and Cru Omeka Kahui (20 March 2006^[1] – 18 June 2006) were two New Zealand infants from a Māori family who died in Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital after being admitted with serious head injuries.^[2] Their family initially refused to cooperate with police in the homicide investigation into the children's deaths. On 26 October 2006, Police charged their father, 21-year-old, Christopher Sonny Kahui with their murder.^[3]

The case has highlighted the fact that Māori children are more than twice as likely to die as a result of abuse than non-Māori^[4] and that New Zealand ranks third highest among OECD nations for child deaths due to maltreatment according to a 2003 UNICEF report.^[5]

Contents 1 Before deaths 2 Deaths 3 Homicide investigation 3.1 Murder arrest 4 References

[edit] Before deaths

They were the two survivors of triplets born premature at 29 weeks on 20 March 2006 at National Women's Hospital at Grafton. They spent six weeks at the KidzFirst neonatal intensive care unit at Counties-Manukau hospital. During this time nurses at the facility and social workers had informally raised concerns with a Department of Child, Youth and Family Services worker, as the parents, Chris Kahui and Macsyne King did not spend a lot of time with the babies. According to the hospital, parents not visiting is not considered child abuse, but was a "cause for concern".^[6]

There had been regular visits to the family home by the hospital as the infants were still technically patients of Middlemore Hospital. At their last visit to the hospital, Chris and Cru were reported to be healthy and well-fed. However the autopsy showed the twins had suffered fractured ribs in an incident previous to the fatal injuries.

[edit] Deaths

Their mother, Macsyne King, on 13 June, returned to the house after being away overnight. She found the boys had extensive bruising, and that William "Banjo" Kahui, their grandfather, had performed CPR on them. Police have said he was not the only person in the house at the time. Former MP John Tamihere claimed on 21 June that a member of the Kahui extended family had told him "a young relative" was caring for the babies when they were fatally injured.^[7] King and the father, Chris Kahui, took the infants to the family G.P. who ordered immediate hospitalisation. Instead of going to Middlemore Hospital, only 10 minutes away, the parents went to McDonald's and then returned home for several hours.^[8] They were eventually taken to Middlemore Hospital by their mother, Macsyne King. Doctors immediately found that they had serious brain injuries.^[1] After being transferred to Starship hospital the police were informed by the hospital. Both were taken off life support, with Cru being the first to die at 5 a.m. on 18 June and Chris died at 6:45 p.m. later in the day. This resulted in the initial serious assault investigation by the police being upgraded to homicide.^[9]

Other injuries included a skull fracture from blunt force trauma and a broken femur to Chris Kahui. An orthopaedic specialist told The Sunday Star-Times that to break the femur of a baby would require it to be bent to a 90 degree angle, ruling out an accidental cause of the injury.^[10]

The bodies were released to the family on 21 June and taken to the Manurewa marae for a tangihanga (funeral rites). They were buried at the Manukau City cemetery on 24 June.^[11]

While the infants were in hospital, Child, Youth and Family removed a 12-month-old brother Shane and their female cousin Cayenne, aged six months from two rented Housing New Zealand homes — one in Clendon, the other in Mangere — where the Kahui babies had lived. Police said they were treated in hospital for injuries resulting from "neglect". They had been found to be malnourished and "dirty".^[12] According to the Herald on Sunday newspaper, the two children were to be returned to the family in September 2006. But neither the parents or so-called "Tight 12" of family members who initially refused to cooperate with police, would be their caregivers.^[13]

[edit] Homicide investigation

The police believe while the infants were in hospital, but before their deaths, the family agreed to be uncooperative with any investigation.^[14] Pita Sharples, the co-leader of the Māori Party had said the family had agreed to talk to police on 26 June,^[15] but this did not happen.^[16] Following this Sharples said he was disgusted by the behaviour of the family. He claimed some members of the family were more interested in going "to the pub and have a drink" than coming forward to police. Prime Minister Helen Clark said it was "absolutely shocking" for the family to hide behind the funeral and that everyone in the country was "shocked and revolted" by the injuries.^[17] There were even reports that gang members were threatening the Kahui family in utu (or revenge) over their refusal to speak.^[18]

After refusing to speak to police in the week after the death, police went to family homes on 27 June. They escorted at least four family members to police stations.^[19] This included the children's mother and aunt.^[20] By 4 July at least 20 extended family members had been interviewed. Along with them, 90 medical practitioners and staff who were in contact with the babies have been questioned.^[21] Items including clothing were removed from the homes by forensic scientists.^[22] Police say that the family is no longer "stone-walling" their inquiries, but a prima facie case had yet to be established. Sunday News reported on 17 September that the list of suspects was down to three and an arrest was imminent.^[23] This was followed by a police statement nine days later that they now know who was responsible for the deaths but that other family members could still be charged with related crimes.^[24]

Two half-sisters of the twins' mother Macsyne King, appeared on TVNZ's Sunday 23 July episode. They claimed that Macsyne and her brother, Robert King had told them the name of the killer. TNVZ censored the name when one of the woman said it, but the gender was revealed to be male.^[25] This gender was contradicted by the twins' paternal grandmother, who appeared the next day on TV3's Campbell Live, stating the killer was female.^[26]

The homes where the babies lived were also home to at least nine adult occupants, eight of whom were on some form of social welfare. They may have been receiving payments totalling between $845 and $1395 a week, depending on their ages and circumstances.^[27] This has prompted an investigation by Work and Income New Zealand as to whether all the payments were legitimate.^[28] The Clendon house had been occupied for two to three months but no sign that babies were living there was noted by the neighbours. They said Tuesday and Thursday nights were "party night" as this was when benefit payments were made. Loud music and fighting was often heard. One neighbour said a sixteen-year-old female appeared on their doorstep at 3:30 a.m. one morning after she said an older man at the Clendon house attempted to sexually assault her.^[1]

[edit] Murder arrest

The 1 October edition of the Sunday Star-Times newspaper published an interview with the twins father, Chris Kahui. In it he said that he did not kill his sons, but that if Police did not find anyone else "I go down for something I didn't do".^[29] He was interviewed by Police on 3 October, which was called by investigators a "major development".^[30]

On 26 October, a "carload of detectives" had gone to several addresses looking for Chris Kahui, who was brought in for questioning. At 10 p.m., it was announced in a press conference that a 21-year-old man had been arrested and charged with the murder of the twins, and would appear in the Manukau District Court the next day. No other family members would be facing charges with relation to the deaths.^[3]

Contrary to this, the Sunday News reported on 31 December 2006, an unnamed source as saying a second arrest was expected. Neither the exact charges that would be laid nor the relationship of the person to the infants were revealed.^[31] Three weeks later the same newspaper said four people involved in the investigation had been summonsed to the appear at the Manukau district court on 24 January. Sources told the newspaper that the new charges relate to dead infants and a pre-school child, with one of those to be charged Macsyna King, the mother of Chris and Cru. ^[32] Three months later, these charges have failed to eventuate.

According to the Herald on Sunday the Microsoft Word file containing the press release announcing the arrest of Kahui had actually been created five days earlier, and the last edit was the day before the arrest. In the same article, the Herald reported the Police were questioning whether Kahui was actually the biological father of the twins.^[33]

Kahui appeared in the Number One court of the Manukau District Court on 27 October for a two-minute hearing where he was formally charged with murder. He was asked not to plea, though outside the court his lawyer, Lorraine Smith, said her client would "fight the charges".^[3] He was remanded in custody until a bail hearing on 10 November, when he was freed on bail.^[34] A pre-depositions hearing was held January 17. A further pre-depositions was meant to take place on March 21. This was so his lawyer could read 60 files of evidence collected by police, and for a medical expert from Australia to become available. ^[35] This second hearing was delayed as the defence said they were still awaiting the medical report from Australia.^[36]

[edit] References