Taufui Paea still has a scar on his cheek from where a man stabbed him as he tried to save a woman bleeding to death in his Glenfield home.
Eighteen months on, the 69-year-old Tongan man still lives with the memory of a violent drama played out in his kitchen.
On Tuesday a 35-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison with a 15-year non-parole for the murder of Sheryl Pareanga.
He had breached a protection order she had taken out against him seven times, the last on December 3, 2004, three days before he killed her in Mr Paea's house.
Ms Pareanga had run to the Paeas for help.
Mrs Paea, who had opened her front door to Ms Pareanga, says she was shocked when the woman fell through the doorway and into her hall, bleeding profusely.
"I always remember, I have always been afraid of him," Mrs Paea said.
"He pulled her into my kitchen".
She called her husband, who tried to pull the man off Ms Pareanga but the man stabbed him in the cheek.
"You never heard anything [from Mrs Pareanga], no crying," Mr Paea said.
He thought she was already dead.
In a frenzied attack, the man was still stabbing Ms Pareanga as he dragged her along the floor into the Paeas' kitchen.
"I said, 'please stop'. I try to hold him and he hit my cheek," Mr Paea said.
His wife had rushed their grandchildren, who were home during the morning attack, into a side room while he tried to wrestle with the man.
Mrs Paea says when she stands in her kitchen she can still see the blood.
"There was blood all over the body, I will never forget. He was sitting on the lady and I heard him saying 'I love you, I love you'," Mr Paea said.
Police review strategy for family violence
Police say they are not reviewing Sheryl Pareanga's case, even though her former partner was on police bail when he killed her.
North Shore District family violence manager Senior Sergeant Dave Ryan said since Ms Pareanga's death, police had introduced new strategies to deal with family violence.
He believed North Shore now had one of the best family violence teams working in New Zealand.
Separate officers were assigned to work with victims and offenders, and collaborative work was done between agencies including Child Youth and Family and Women's Refuge.
"There is just no point in just locking up an offender," he said.
Attitudes needed to change.
"Protection orders are a good way of ensuring safety, but nothing is going to avoid all incidents of violence."
Strategies like the Family Violence Standard released by police last week would also help, he said.
It is a standard which guides agencies working with family violence to share information and work together.
But others working in the field say more Government funding is needed.
The Budget set aside $11 million for a family violence prevention campaign and $9 million for service provision.
Preventing Violence in the Home service manager Holly Carrington said the idea was to have all agencies working together, sharing information to help prevent family violence.
However, there was still not enough staff or money to deal with it.
Family law expert Catriona MacLennan said more funding was needed to deal with domestic violence, with more cases coming through the courts, a burgeoning prison population and police lacking resources.
The manager of the National Collective Independent Women's Refuges, Heather Henare, also said more Government finance was needed.
It was revealed in May that Women's Refuge is facing a $21 million shortfall.
Taufui Paea bears a scar on his cheek and Mrs Paea says she still sees blood on her kitchen floor. Picture / Greg Bowker
Taufui Paea still has a scar on his cheek from where a man stabbed him as he tried to save a woman bleeding to death in his Glenfield home.
Eighteen months on, the 69-year-old Tongan man still lives with the memory of a violent drama played out in his kitchen.
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