Kahui mum surprised by accusations she killed her sons

Macsyna King, left, with her lawyer Marie Dyhrberg, arrives at Auckland District Court to give evidence at the Coroner's Inquiry into the deaths of Chris and Cru Kahui. Photo / NZPA

The mother of the Kahui twins has said she never harmed her sons.

Macsyna King has taken the stand at the inquest into the death of the twin babies Chris and Cru Kahui in Auckland.

"I have always maintained I did not harm my sons, hurt or beat them. I did not cause them any injuries," Ms King said.

Ms King said that both Chris Kahui and his father "Banjo" Kahui had told her they knew she wasn't responsible for the deaths, and the subsequent accusations she faced at the 2008 High Court trial came as a surprise.

"I did not expect it to be said that he thinks I hurt and killed our sons. I did not expect to hear that," she said.

Police concluded during their investigations that the babies probably received the injuries which led to their deaths between noon and 9pm on June 12, 2006, and that Ms King was with her sister Emily during that time.

Ms King today denied suggestions she was ever at home during those hours.

She said she and Emily King had left her sister's Papakura home about 7pm in a work car of Emily King's partner to visit a friend in west Auckland, using the Southern Motorway and the Northwestern Motorway, neither of which pass through Mangere.

Once in west Auckland they received a call saying they could not take the work car, so they drove back to Papakura and picked up another car before heading back to west Auckland, Ms King said.

They returned to Papakura about midnight, where both stayed the night.

"At no time did I leave my sister's company from early afternoon 12 June to (the early hours of) 13 June," she said.

Ms King also rejected claims made at the High Court trial from Eru Tuari, with whom she had a relationship after separating from Mr Kahui, that she said "Chris didn't do it, I did it" in his presence in late 2006.

"That conversation did not happen," she told the court.

Ms King said she arrived back to her Mangere home on the morning of June 13 to find the children had bruising.

She said she and Mr Kahui took the babies that day to a GP, who said they were gravely ill and needed to be taken to hospital.

She subsequently took the children to hospital without Mr Kahui, and she said he would not join her at hospital when she rung him back with news the children were critically ill.

Ms King said she got the impression at the time that he was avoiding the situation, but she couldn't understand why.

When asked by Mr Evans if she had since thought of why he might have wanted to avoid the situation, she said she thought "that he had something to hide".

Under cross-examination from Mr Kahui's lawyer Chris Wilkinson-Smith, Ms King admitted she had enrolled in an anger management programme a month before the babies died, saying she wanted to learn how to deal with things better and to "talk, not yell".

However, she said she did not attend any sessions once she had enrolled.

Mr Kahui is likely to begin his evidence tomorrow or Thursday. It will be the first time he has given evidence in court about the babies' death.

Earlier, a coroner presiding over the inquest changed his mind and said he will now call the man who says the boys' mother admitted to the killings.

The inquest into the deaths of the 3-month-old twins opened in Auckland Coroner's Court yesterday - more than four years after they died in Starship hospital on June 19, 2006.

At the 2008 trial of the twins' father Chris, witness Eru Tuari gave evidence that their mother Macsyna King had told him "Chris didn't do it, I did it" while the pair were in a relationship.

Mr Tuari told the 2008 trial that he heard Ms King's alleged confession while she was "freaking out" at her Papakura home.

Chris Kahui was subsequently acquitted of his sons' murders.

Coroner Garry Evans said yesterday that he did not think there was a need to call Mr Tuari in the current hearing, as he believed his evidence fell short of the standard required to be of much help to him.

However, following arguments over alleged associate of Ms King, Mr Evans told the court he would now hear from Mr Tuari.

He also criticised the media for drawing conclusions from Mr Tuari's evidence.

"Never did he say that Macsyna King allegedly said to him that she killed the twins," Mr Evans said.

Mr Kahui's lawyer, Chris Wilkinson-Smith said Mr Tuari was called a liar but not questioned on what Ms King's admission could be about. He said the court has heard admissions from Mr Kahui and so should also hear admissions from Ms King.

Yesterday's proceedings also saw Mr Evans make a number of suppression orders relating to details he felt could, among other things, be "prejudicial to the family members".

Mr Evans told Mr Kahui's lawyer Chris Wilkinson-Smith that he was prepared to call Mr Tuari if it could be shown there was further evidence which would give him reason to do so.

Mr Kahui - who did not give evidence in his own defence at trial - will give evidence at the inquest, which will try to determine whether changes can be put in place to stop child abuse.

Ms King is due to give evidence later today.

Mr Wilkinson-Smith told the court yesterday that Mr Kahui was keen to take part in the inquest to discover how the twins "came to a violent end".

Police evidence

The court today heard from Detective Sergeant Chris Barry, who arrested Mr Kahui and was on the investigation team.

Under cross-examination by Mr Kahui's lawyer, Chris Wilkinson-Smith, Mr Barry confirmed police were aware that the twins' mother Macsyna King had been enrolled in an anger management course in May, 2006.

The twins were taken to hospital with fatal head injuries the following month.

"If you start going into incidents of people being angry, you could level that at both parties - both Chris Kahui and Macsyna King," Mr Barry said.

Coroner Garry Evans said the officer had not included the anger management course in his evidence to the inquest because his evidence was only a summary of the police file.

But Mr Wilkinson-Smith took it further.

"I suggest it falls below the standard of a competent investigator," he said.

Mr Barry replied: "I left it out in the same way I left out cases of Chris Kahui being angry."

There will be only an initial two weeks of evidence in this hearing from today, and another two weeks of evidence from November 1. The inquest will then be adjourned until 2011 to ensure evidence is transmitted to two Australian experts, who will give evidence in the new year.

Yesterday Mr Barry went over the investigation and outlined why police had believed Mr Kahui was responsible for the twins' death.

Mr Barry said medical evidence and evidence from those who said they fed the twins at noon on June 12, 2006, led police to conclude the twins received their serious head injuries between noon and 9pm that day.

Evidence from other witnesses said that Ms King was not in the twins' home during that time period but was with her sister Emily and a friend, he said.

Mr Kahui's lawyers argued during the 2008 trial that Ms King may have been with Emily when her sister was using a mobile phone near the house around 7pm on June 12 when Mr Kahui was taking his sister to Middlemore Hospital to see their mother.

Mr Barry said police decided to charge Mr Kahui with the murders because he did not try to get help for the twins after baby Cru stopped breathing, he did not take them to hospital after being told to by the family doctor, and he had offered to hand himself in on three occasions.

There will be only an initial two weeks of evidence in this hearing from today, and another two weeks of evidence from November 1. The inquest will then be adjourned until 2011 to ensure evidence is transmitted to two Australian experts, who will give evidence in the new year.

- with NZPA