Couple's grief needs no translation

There is no need to wait for their German words to be translated into English to perceive the depth of grief felt by Knut and Anne-Marie Brauer.

Before a press conference yesterday, the retired German couple visited Lucys Gully in Taranaki, where the body of their 28-year-old daughter Birgit was found battered and stabbed last year. They then sat in court just metres from the man accused of her murder, Michael Wallace.

It was after that that they answered questions through a translator for media, keen to hear for the first time from the couple who have travelled to New Zealand from the small town of Eberswalde-Finow. For Mrs Brauer, it was her first time on an aeroplane.

Mr Brauer's voice trembled as he explained why he and his wife made the difficult journey here. Sitting next to him, his wife bit her lip. Their faces reddened, and under their glasses their eyes welled up.

Yet they battled through the only press conference they will give during their visit to New Zealand, because they wanted to thank everyone in the country who had "contributed to making their pain more bearable".

The couple do not speak English. The trip, say their Rotarian hosts, was "very emotionally draining". But Mr Brauer said the couple accepted the Rotary's offer of the trip to thank New Zealand, and to visit the place Birgit died in September last year.

Their experience in Lucys Gully was too raw to share at the press conference. "It is a private thing."

Following their visit to the picnic spot, the Brauers went to nearby New Plymouth and spent time at the opening day of a depositions hearing for the man charged with Birgit's murder.

They understood very little of what was said in the court but went for their daughter - and to see the man who allegedly took her life.

Birgit was open-minded, welcoming, and hardworking, her mother recalled. She loved nature and had studied geography.

Mr Brauer said Birgit had visited New Zealand after hearing about it from friends. The place also appealed to her interest in nature and in seeing first hand some of the things she learned about in her studies.

"Birgit was probably a person who was very easily afraid. Part of her decision to come here to New Zealand was also because it's considered to be a safe country, there's no dangerous animals, there was nothing she needed to be afraid of."

During her seven month stay, Birgit kept in touch with her parents, sending photos and messages. They last heard from her in early September, via text message, while she was working on a farm.

Asked to share their favourite memory of Birgit, the couple sat silently, absorbed in their own thoughts. It was too painful to share them aloud.

Before they arrived, the Brauers told the Rotary Club the journey would allow them "to make their last and most difficult farewell to Birgit at the place where she died ... "

In the days before they went to Lucys Gully, the couple visited a beach, and stood in front of a giant kauri tree - trying to experience the country as their daughter would have.

As well as thanking the public for their support and sympathy, Mr Brauer wanted to leave young travellers with a message.

"Young people should not be discouraged - in fact they should be encouraged - to travel the world and to interact with other people but they should always remember to be prudent and that every country, even countries like New Zealand, have black sheep."