Dame Susan Devoy: Kahui case

We may never know for certain who killed the Kahui twins.
The coroner's report from the inquest, which concluded on Thursday, will determine how they died but we will be no closer to knowing who was responsible for the murder of gorgeous, innocent 3-month-old baby boys Chris and Cru.
I am dismayed that their mother, Macsyna King, has collaborated with Ian Wishart to tell "her side of the story" in a soon-to-be-published book, but I am more concerned by the legal system's abject failure not just in being unable to hold the murderer accountable, but to allow all of those adults who were involved to walk away scot-free.
Even if Mother Teresa was the author of this book, I wouldn't want to read one word from that P-addicted, immoral human being.
Nothing she could say would engender any understanding or sympathy for the life she chose to live. That extends to all the whanau who did nothing to protect those defenceless babies when they were alive and then went to great lengths to protect the person or people who caused their deaths.
The timing of the book is appalling in itself. Isn't it ironic that a tell-all book by the mother is announced as the coronial inquest enters its last days? Wishart will have you believe that this was a leak from a bookseller, but I am sure the investigative journalist extraordinaire can't believe his luck at the sensational, free PR this controversial book is receiving. A coincidence or perfect timing?
Sadly the Kahui case isn't an exception. There are other child-killers who have not been prosecuted. I believe the last count was 12.
All children deserve to have a good mother, a good father - even if they don't live together - and people that love and care for them. They deserve to be given the basic necessities of life and, most of all, they deserve a future.
King and her whanau obviously could do none of that and yet there were options. There are a plethora of organisations - I think at least a dozen government and non-government organisations were with a couple of kilometres of the family home.
And King herself has had plenty of opportunities to atone, to tell her story and to put her children before herself.
Wishart has said that any profits from the book will be given to charity. Wishful thinking. Which CEO or board of any charity would accept what would undoubtedly be perceived as guilt if not blood money?
I don't subscribe to the boycotting campaign run on Facebook. That's not to say I don't respect what they are trying to achieve, however books should not be banned and this campaign has unintentionally highlighted the publication.
Decent human beings wouldn't buy the book. As it is now, the book will undoubtedly attract more interest from those who have this ghoulish curiosity and can't distinguish between fact and fiction. I have no doubt that now this book will be in high demand and sell out online, making even more money for the author.
Whatever happens won't change the outcome. Two beautiful babies have lost their lives in a manner that makes all of us cry.
If I genuinely thought publishing a book exposing the underbelly of child abusers would break this vicious cycle of abuse, if I thought that drug abusers and scumbag criminals would think twice before they took out their anger on defenceless children, then I would want it to be a best-seller.
Sadly it won't and I don't think King knows what the truth looks like, but Mr Wishart probably won't let that get in the way of a good story.