By TONY WALL
Kurt Bolli believes that there are four people who know exactly what happened at his Whangaparaoa home on the morning of November 12, 1998.
"One's dead, and three are never going to tell us," Mr Bolli said as he fought back tears yesterday.
He sat through seven weeks of testimony in the High Court at Auckland, but still does not know why his wife, Joanne McCarthy, was beaten to death with a hammer by Travis Burns that hot day.
Burns, found guilty of the murder yesterday, denied that he was even there.
The only two witnesses to the horrific crime, the couple's infant son, Marcus, and friend Julie Roe's daughter Georgina, were too young to talk.
Police have considered rape, robbery or burglary, but have been unable to come up with a firm motive.
Perhaps it will never be known what Burns was planning or what words were exchanged when Ms McCarthy opened her door that morning to see a stranger on her porch.
The jury accepted forensic evidence that Burns rained hammer blows, kicks and punches on her head and body in an attack that continued through the house in front of the two howling toddlers, who were spattered with blood.
Burns then put Ms McCarthy's battered body in a bath full of water in an attempt to wash away evidence.
But during a desperate struggle for her life, Ms McCarthy scratched his chest deeply, leaving his skin - and vital DNA evidence - to be discovered under her fingernails.
After the jury delivered its guilty verdict, Mr Bolli said the trial had been a tiring experience that had brought back a lot of unpleasant memories.
He had coped with the support of a large network of friends and family who turned up each day at court to hear the sometimes harrowing evidence.
The victim's brother, John McCarthy, said the lack of a motive remained an "open question in all of our minds."
"There doesn't seem to be one clear motive ... as to why someone walks off the street in broad daylight and bashes a stranger to death in front of her children.
"I don't understand a mind like that."
Mr McCarthy said he was pleased to see the last of Burns as he left the courtroom after the verdict.
"I'm pleased to think he won't be back on the streets for a long time.
"I suppose if there's ever to be rehabilitation for Travis Burns, then the first step would be that he was honest and admits what he has done. I think we'll be waiting a long time."
In Hamilton, Mr Bolli's mother, Erika, looked after little Marcus while waiting for word from the court.
"He follows me around the whole time when he's with me ... He knows he used to have a mummy, but he was only 11 months and he doesn't remember.
"He's been to the cemetery and he knows mummy is there, but he's too young ... to understand."
Mrs Bolli said her son phoned her with the news straight after the verdict.
"He could hardly talk. He was crying, and I cried too."
The family say Marcus is happy in his new city - he attends playcentre twice a week and has lots of friends and cousins - and they hope he will not carry any mental scars from the day his mother died.
Asked what was next for the boy, Mr Bolli said: "Just some time with his father."
'Shattered' Burns intends to appeal
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