Wreaths of red roses, pink lilies and white daisies covered the coffins of slain Dunedin woman Anna Kemp and her two-year-old daughter Gracie at their funeral in Dunedin on Saturday.
Five months after their deaths, they were farewelled by about 200 mourners in a traditional Catholic Mass in St Joseph's Cathedral.
Dressed
in purple robes for mourning, family priest Father Tony Harrison told mourners there had been many emotions since mother and daughter disappeared from their Melbourne home.
Now, those who loved Ms Kemp and her daughter were left with relief and sadness.
"Relief that we can stand in God's presence with Anna, her unborn son, and Gracie and bury them in dignity.
"Sadness, because we are no longer able to share in their joy and love."
Ms Kemp and her daughter were killed in March.
Police found their remains in a rubbish tip last month.
Trust in God and the support and prayers of friends and community had helped the family through the agony of not knowing what had happened to them, Father Harrison said.
"The day Ms Kemp's body was found was a miserable overcast day but suddenly the clouds opened and the search area was flooded with sunlight and there was Anna," he said.
The new Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, the Most Rev Colin Campbell, remembered Ms Kemp as a "lovely vivacious, young woman with an effervescent and bubbly personality" who was concerned for the good of others.
There appeared to be no "rhyme, reason or logic" to such tragic events, but he assured the mourners that love would triumph in the end.
In the only family address, Ms Kemp's brother, Gerald, gave thanks on behalf of their mother, Lili Gebler, and his brother, Joseph, for the love and support the family received from both sides of the Tasman.
Mrs Gebler feared something had happened to her daughter after she missed her weekly phone call home.
Father Harrison asked another of his parishioners, Constable John Woodhouse, to look into the matter, and it was his efforts that prompted Melbourne police to start a homicide inquiry.
Mr Woodhouse travelled to Australia with the Kemp brothers to retrieve the bodies, and was a pallbearer at the funeral.
Police say Mrs Kemp's husband, John Miles Sharpe, confessed to the murders.
He is due in court in November.
End of a mystery
Anna Kemp, 41, who was five months pregnant, and her daughter, Gracie, vanished from their Melbourne home in March.
Their remains were found in a rubbish tip last month after a three-week police search of the dump.
Ms Kemp's husband, John Miles Sharpe, has been charged with murdering his wife and daughter.
- NZPA
Wreaths of red roses, pink lilies and white daisies covered the coffins of slain Dunedin woman Anna Kemp and her two-year-old daughter Gracie at their funeral in Dunedin on Saturday.
Five months after their deaths, they were farewelled by about 200 mourners in a traditional Catholic Mass in St Joseph's Cathedral.
Dressed
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