He was remanded in custody until next month, when he is to reappear in the High Court at Wellington.
Judge Antony Walsh granted interim suppression of the victims' names.
The Timberlea Community House was opened up yesterday for friends of the victims to support each other.
One community member, who organised the gathering, and did not want to be named, said she and others who knew the woman believed she would have done anything she could to protect her son from the attack.
"She was very protective of her son."
The community was "in mourning" over the death, she said.
"[The woman] was very supportive of the community, and the stuff she did in the community were the acts of someone who wanted to be a part of something that would have a huge effect on the community."
The deceased woman did home care and looked after vulnerable people - she would open her home to anyone in need, the community worker said.
"She was always trying to do things for people in the community."
A Timberlea man, who did not want to be named, said he had known the victim for between 10 to 15 years.
"She was the kind of person that, when she put her mind to whatever she was going to do, she was going to do it.
"I always thought that she would give her heart to anything - if you asked her to do something she'd be there to do it.
"That's the sort of person she was."
He said they knew each other from living in the Timberlea community, and spending time at the Timberlea Community House.
"She was working with people who needed help, they might have been people who needed help to clean their houses and working with people like that.
"She was a keen-spirited lady who was always ready to help."
Police spokesman Nick Bohm said the two injured men underwent surgery yesterday and police hoped to speak with them later.
He would not confirm whether the woman had died protecting her son.
The attack was not random, with Nicholls knowing the mother, her son and the other young man, he said.
Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson said it was "a terrible, terrible tragedy so close to Christmas".
He said there were "multiple" crime scenes for police to examine for evidence.
Forensic investigators spent much of yesterday at the scenes marking out evidence with cones.
It was a "very nasty attack", Mr Thomson said.
"We have two people seriously injured but not life threatening, we have one deceased person, again a terrible tragedy at this time of year."
