Father haunted by memories

By RENEE KIRIONA

A picture of Coral Burrows sits on top of the Christmas tree, in place of an angel, in her father's house.

As other family members, including Ron Burrows' three sisters, packed the Masterton District Court to hear of Coral's last hours, Mr Burrows yesterday stayed away and spoke of the last Christmas he spent with her. And what could have been.

"She got a push-bike for Christmas, the same size as the boys' because she wanted to be just like them. Her and [her brother] Storm were here with me. We had a great time. This year we put a photo of her there because she's our angel now."

Yesterday he did not make the trip from his home in Pongakawa, near Te Puke, to Masterton to see Steve Williams' admission of killing Coral, partly because of a custody battle with his former wife and Coral's mother, Jeanna Cremen, over their son Storm.

Instead, he, his partner, Sarah Wastney, and their 14-month-old son, Slade, stayed at home, unable to forget the horror but trying to move on.

"But there's no way I'm going to miss his sentence. I hope they sentence him to hell.

"He should get preventive detention and nothing less. He's lucky we don't have the death sentence. He's a waste of air."

As the fate of Coral stirred the nation, it was often the face of her father grimly carrying on searching for signs of her, then later for her body, that people remembered.

"My daughter will never see her 16th birthday, never see her 21st. Every year on her birthday, Christmas and just every day - there's not a day that goes past I don't think about my daughter and what that man put her through. I'll never have my daughter to kiss and cuddle ever again in my life because some drugged-out piece of shit wanted to kill her."

He said he had pleaded with Mrs Cremen to kick out Williams when he heard he was a P user, warning it could end in tragedy.

Mr Burrows, a 38-year-old invalid beneficiary, said he knew P (the pure form of methamphetamine/speed) made people dangerous and he did not want his children around a drug user.

Mrs Cremen confessed Williams' drug use after he smashed windows in their Featherston house during the school holidays in July. She drove the children to Te Puke, in the Bay of Plenty, where Mr Burrows lives with his new family.

"We had a conversation at the park and I told her, 'You've got to get rid of this man'. He's wrecking their house, it's only a matter of time before he really seriously injures one of the kids.

"She told me he was into the P. And I said, 'Oh mate, haven't you been listening [to the news]' ... And I said to her then, he's going to hurt or kill one of the kids."

He already knew Williams had an extensive record, which included a conviction for a drive-by shooting and time in jail.

"His priors, a lot of them are violent. He wasn't allowed near his own children, he wasn't allowed near his sister's children because of an episode with them where he nearly killed one of them and ended up breaking his sister's jaw."

He had called Child, Youth and Family (CYF) in January because he was worried about his children's behaviour since Williams moved in.

"My daughter started messing her pants and my son was acting extra violent - bizarre for my children."

The department is still investigating why the 21-minute call from Mr Burrows was not logged and generated no action.

While the pain of losing a child would never go away, Mr Burrows said what mattered to him most now was making sure Storm was safe.

Mr Burrows said he was not surprised that Williams showed no sign of remorse or emotion at yesterday's hearing.

"The only thing that man is sorry about is the fact that he got caught. He only pleaded guilty so he could get a lighter sentence."