Victim predicted own death

Joseph Te Wani, Cheryl Pareanga's former partner, with their sons Jacob (front) and Troy. Picture / Dean Purcell

Before Cheryl Pareanga was fatally stabbed in Glenfield, she told her children that she believed she was going to die.

"She told the boys that," said the father of her two teenagers, Joseph Te Wani.

And on December 6, Cheryl Pareanga fled for her life to her neighbours, then died, after an attack at Bruce Rd, Glenfield.

Soon after, a man was charged with her murder.

Mr Te Wani spoke for the first time this week about Cheryl Pareanga - the woman he had loved and one his family said was "a bloody good mother".

Cheryl Pareanga was the "strong woman" who never backed down, the one he fell for when she was living on the streets in Otara at age 16.

She was sexually abused as a child, in and out of care with Child, Youth and Family, and assaulted as an adult by a family member, he said.

When he was 19, Mr Te Wani took Cheryl home to live with his family. His mother, Amy, believed he felt sorry for Cheryl, but he said he liked her a lot and admired her strength.

The couple had two boys - Jacob, now 16, and Troy, 15 - and split just after they started primary school. Cheryl later moved in with another man - the father of her four other children.

Mr Te Wani said Cheryl constantly worried about her children and their welfare. She always put her children first - walking the young ones to and from school every day.

Despite suffering from low self-esteem and "hiding her skills", Cheryl made real strides to get her life on track, Mr Te Wani said. She went to Women's Refuge, had a counsellor and completed a course which qualified her to teach Maori.

He said that when they separated it was initially difficult to communicate, but in recent years they were in touch frequently, and he felt she would always call himself or his mother when she was in strife.

Mr Te Wani initially was given full custody of his sons. But when the boys were older they said they wanted to stay with their mother, which he allowed because he thought they were old enough to make their own choices.

Now living and working as a truck driver in Tauranga, Mr Te Wani said he was not sure what would happen with his two eldest boys. They were at a skateboard ramp when their mother, who was 33, was killed. At first they were told she was hurt, then found out late in the day that she had died.

Both were struggling to come to terms with the tragedy, he said, and they would live with their grandmother until things were sorted out. They would need a lot of counselling.

"Cheryl would have wanted the boys to be happy."