Look of horror 'worst thing' - Mealamu

Keven Mealamu with a photograph of his niece Christina Mealamu, in black. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Keven Mealamu was kicking around a rugby ball with his son Samuel, 8, when he heard the shouting.

"My heart dropped," he says. "I saw everyone running over, then seeing my wife trying to get all the little kids away from there - that was the worst thing ... People with that look of horror on their faces - you know, that is something I won't forget.

"I rushed over but ..." His voice tails off.

"This is hard to talk about, but it's not a sight you want to see, you know."

The All Black strongman and his wife Latai were yesterday mourning at home with his family, after the funeral on Friday of Christina "Portia" Mealamu. In Europe, Graham Henry and All Black teammates including captain Richie McCaw, Mils Muliaina, Rodney So'oialo and Andrew Hore had phoned or texted their support - but he was too busy supporting his grieving family to watch their test match against France on television.

The family invited the Herald on Sunday down to South Auckland, so they could pay a tribute to the little girl, the daughter of Mealamu's brother Luke.

Keven Mealamu revealed the heavy cushioned pads had been removed from the steel-framed scrum machine, and it had been left tipped up on an angle.

"I think some of the young teenage boys might have left the sports equipment standing up, which it shouldn't have been," he said.

"I think she might have fallen under it, but there might have been some kids playing on the other side of it and maybe pushed it down."

"I think she passed almost instantly."

Police have handed over inquiries to Labour Department safety inspectors, who are investigating what caused last Saturday's tragic death. But Mealamu said he did not blame anyone for the accident.

At Christina's funeral at St Theresa's Catholic Church in Mangere East, father Luke Mealamu spoke of the nightmare, for a parent, in burying his own child.

"Christina's definitely made me a better man now, and a stronger man now," he said. "I have to be good so I can see my girl when I get to heaven."

Her mother, Lasi, added: "I realise that my girl was the lucky one out of everyone that is here today because God has chosen her to be with Him."

Among the mourners was Chris Kahui, the father of baby twins Chris and Cru who died in as yet unexplained circumstances in 2006. His new partner, Marcia Ngapera, is a close friend of the Mealamu family.

Keven Mealamu said it was hard to have to carry the coffin of "someone so special" through the church.

He and his brother had been talking: "We were saying, today was the first time we had an actual sleep. He told me every time he closes his eyes, he just goes back to that moment again.

"The biggest counselling we can get is each other and talking to each other - that's how we will get through."

He remembered a little girl with a lisp and a "big personality", who loved dancing and krumping - a form of American street-dancing. She gave herself the middle name "Portia", which she used as her performing and hiphop name.

"You know, for a little girl she had a lot of love for a lot of people and touched a lot of hearts.

"She could spend a couple of hours with someone and at the end of the time she will be calling them Aunty or Uncle.

"Of course it affects that family in a sad way but little Tina has brought us together.

"We want to say a very big thank you to the public for their support, their messages of love to the family."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY, ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Anna Rushworth