Mother and baby die, two children escape horror attack

Wendy Mercer was a mother of three, "a fabulous person, a livewire". Yesterday morning she was found dead in her burning house, with her estranged husband, Kelvin, on fire in the hallway.

Her 6-month-old son, Will, lay dead in his cot, and her two girls, Crystalin, 3, and Aurial, 5, were injured.

The horrific scene was discovered when police forced their way into the smoke-filled brick bungalow in the outer Dunedin hill suburb of Brockville.

Mr Mercer, 32, who reportedly had a non-molestation order against him, had burns to 40 per cent of his body and last night was in an induced coma at a burns unit in Christchurch.

Police say he might not survive.

Crystalin had a severe wound and had surgery at Dunedin Hospital. Aurial was also injured.

Mrs Mercer's friend and workmate Nicola Carter said friends had been planning a cocktail party for her next Friday to celebrate her 35th birthday.

"She just deserved all the good things you could give her. She was just that sort of loving, giving person," she said.

Mrs Carter was one of Mrs Mercer's first employees at her business, Creative Kiwi Collections, which sold body products and gifts through home demonstrations.

She called Mrs Mercer a people person who worked hard to build a business and was always ready to lend a hand.

Another friend, Treacy Landers, said Mrs Mercer started a spiritual group based on the book The Celestine Prophecy.

The group "was about getting life back in order through the spiritual world; about inner wellbeing". Last night family members were comforting Crystalin and Aurial.

Sister-in-law Kim Dougherty said the family were too upset to talk and wanted to devote as much time as possible to making sure the children pulled through.

The children were "both fine, at least as well as can be expected", Mrs Dougherty said.

"Our heads are just spinning at the moment, there is just too much to take in.

"She [Mrs Mercer] was just a fabulous person, a livewire. No one deserves what has happened."

Emergency services were alerted to the dispute when Mrs Mercer's boyfriend called police at 7.11am.

He said he had been talking to her by telephone but the call had been disconnected. Police received a second call from a neighbour at 7.18.

The neighbour said the house was on fire and two children from the house were at their home with burns and other injuries.

Mr Mercer lived elsewhere in Dunedin.

Neighbours said they thought he shifted out about a year ago and one told of an earlier incident at the house.

Chris Riley, who lives in the same street, said Mr Mercer was a shift-worker and a hardworking man. He had seen him at the property with a chainsaw, cutting firewood.

Mrs Mercer seemed friendly, he said, and the children behaved well.

The acting Dunedin police district manager, Inspector Dave Cliff, said ESR scientists were examining the house.

Dunedin CIB head Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Wakelin said it was not yet clear if an accelerant had been used in the house fire, but the area burned was a confined space around the dead woman and the injured man.

He said police who went to the house were having counselling after having to drag the man from the house and smother the flames with their jackets.

"To state the obvious, it's a traumatic thing that's occurred," he said.

"It was a fairly horrific scene. It's not a pleasant duty to do for the next couple of days."

Police hoped to talk to the burned man, but Mr Wakelin said that might not be possible.

"His injuries are very, very serious, most definitely life-threatening."

Police were not looking for anyone else in the case.

Mr Wakelin said he was not yet sure how the woman died.

The baby boy had a "serious wound ... it's far too early for us to say how the baby received the injuries - stabbing is a possibility, but ... we haven't even examined the scene fully or the bodies at this point."

Police had not yet identified a weapon used.

Mr Wakelin praised colleagues who first attended the scene.

"What they did this morning was above and beyond their duty. You don't expect to run into that sort of situation."

One police officer was treated for smoke inhalation. Mr Wakelin said it appeared he had been trying to direct firefighters to the dead baby in the bedroom cot.

- NZPA, STAFF REPORTER