Stuart King and partner Mona Kahui pay their respects at the grave of their murdered nephews Chris and Cru Kahui in Mangere yesterday. Photo / Richard Robinson
A couple who lived in the house where Chris and Cru Kahui were killed visited the twins' grave yesterday, a day after the babies' father was found not guilty of their murder.
Stuart King, brother of the twins' mother, Macsyna King, and Mona Kahui, sister of their father,
Chris Kahui, paid their respects at the Mangere Lawn Cemetery for about 10 minutes before leaving.
The couple, who have a child together, were in the Mangere house when the twins were alleged to have been injured two years ago.
Their child, who was around the same age as the twin boys, was later put into Child, Youth and Family Services care with Chris and Macsyna's then 1-year-old son immediately after the twins died.
Other family members including Chris Kahui's older sister Tracey Still also visited the grave yesterday, laying a bunch of flowers and carefully tidying the plot before leaving half an hour later.
The grave itself is nearly 22 years old, but the fresh, prickly grass shows sign of new growth.
The twins are buried with their great-grandmother Mona Hetaraka, who died more than two decades ago, and their grave looks out of place in a line of slightly faded, old gravestones.
Five Spiderman figurines stand guard behind a small white teddy bear, and a pair of brightly coloured butterflies sit on long sticks poked neatly into the ground.
There are two of everything.
Amid colourful bunches of flowers, a pair of tall candles stand opposite each other and a matching set of miniature angels, each with a tiny Bible, have white taonga carefully placed around their necks.
A chubby, chipped cherub smiles softly at his brother on the other side, while two humpback whales bearing the names Arepa and Omeka (Alpha and Omega), the beginning and the end, lie parallel to each other.
Two lightning blue dolphins gaze up at single pearl ball, with silver coins scattered beneath them.
The headstone - the arms of a marae with interweaving koru patterns - looks over the twins' grave. A picture of their great-grandmother is in the headstone's centre - seemingly looking over her babies.
At the end of the epitaph reads "arohanui" - love.
