By ANGELA GREGORY
WHANGAREI - Four-year-old Whangarei cousins born just 20 days apart were buried together yesterday in a double coffin.
Jerome Absalom Marsh and Chanel Joseph Pukeroa perished in a house fire in Tikipunga on Tuesday.
The boys had been playing with matches or a lighter in a hut they built from squabs and blankets in their grandfather's garage.
They were found huddled under a double bed in an upstairs room.
The pair had played together almost every day since they were babies, and were laid to rest with their favourite toys, including fishing rods, toy boats and a PlayStation.
Some of the 300 relatives and friends who were gathered at the Onerahi Cemetery broke down with sobs and tears as the family played Shania Twain's From This Moment.
At the earlier church service on the Terenga Paraoa Marae the grieving family had quietly sung You Are My Sunshine as they carried their music-loving boys to the hearse.
Staff from The Warehouse who worked with the children's grandmother lined each side of the cemetery entrance in support. Officers from the Fire Service also attended.
The cousins were buried near their tupuna (ancestors) including their great-grandparents and a great-great-grandmother.
Grandmother Irene Gregory said she had cared for the two boys since they were born.
"Everyone thought they were twins, but I didn't find it hard to tell them apart - they had such different natures."
Irene Gregory said Chanel was the more high spirited of the two, and Jerome was "a ray of sunshine."
She described them as intelligent boys who loved music and fishing. The boys always called each other "cousin," never their names.
Irene Gregory said Jerome was spanked just a fortnight ago for setting alight toilet paper, and Chanel had also been punished for flicking a lighter.
"It's hard to explain the dangers if you can't light a fire to show them ... Kids have got to understand."
Irene Gregory said the family would need counselling as they all felt guilt.
The boy's grandfather, Mori Hita, was finding it especially hard to deal with.
Mr Hita had been mowing the lawn when the smoke alarms went off, and had tried to put the fire out with a garden hose.
Cousins who always played together share double coffin
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