Brad and Hoana Morrissey say they were both taken in by their daughter's killer. Photo / Jason Dorday
"You can't say Brad is not a supportive husband. He has stuck by me." Hoana Morrissey's feelings about her husband Brad are common among couples - but this relationship is very different.
The Morriseys' baby girl Aaliyah, 2, was brutally killed by Michael Curran, a man Hoana had been having an affair with - someone Brad considered a good neighbour and friend.
Now that Curran has been convicted, the couple can finally talk about their living nightmare.
That nightmare involves the fact Curran was on bail for the death of Natasha Hayden when he killed their baby, their anger that this was allowed to happen, and the pain the "brutal bastard" brought on their family.
And then, Hoana's discovery that she was pregnant. For Brad, this was almost too much. It took a paternity test to prove the child was his - and not Curran's - before the couple could move on and try again.
Yesterday, speaking to the Herald on Sunday, they wanted it known that they stood together, united. "We are stronger than ever," Hoana said.
The birth of their daughter Chevaughn Jenneth Morrissey, on May 16 last year, has helped them to mend their relationship.
"She has been our main grieving, healing ingredient through this whole horrible mess," said Brad.
"We have got through this now, are getting through it. The big guy upstairs has seen what that brutal prick did and has seen our strength and he's given us a baby girl, eight months after. That's amazing."
Like the couple's other two children, Jacob, 8 and Raymond, 6, Chevaughn is living with a caregiver. The couple have another legal fight on their hands - to prove they are capable parents.
"The worst thing was we had to live through this, waiting for this trial, for two years," Hoana said.
The Morrisseys and Currans were living only a stone's throw away from each other, on the same side of the same Tauranga street, when they struck up a friendship.
"We thought we had quite a bit in common," Brad Morrissey said. "They were married, we were married. They had three kids, we had three kids. There was only one house in between us, for God's sake."
The Morrisseys said they had no idea about Curran's 22 previous convictions, such as indecent assault on a child under 12, or his acquittal for raping a woman.
"We knew about Natasha, that he was on bail and awaiting trial, but he told us she had committed suicide. We believed him. We obviously thought what that idiot judge thought when he bailed him, that he wasn't a danger."
Brad said he felt so sorry for his neighbour, who was on a 24-hour curfew, that he took over his Xbox to help ease the boredom. "He couldn't go to the video shop to get games, so I ended up bringing over my computer."
The Morrisseys were experiencing some marital problems and Brad moved out. Hoana said she then embarked on a brief but intensely regrettable affair with Curran. The court in Rotorua heard she slept with him twice a week, for three weeks while the children played outside.
Yesterday, Hoana, backed by her husband of 12 years and Brad's mother Raewyn, told the Herald on Sunday that Curran was a serial womaniser, "with no heart" who dominated women.
They would never forget what happened to Aaliyah but they believed she was looking down on them from heaven.
The history
On Friday, a High Court jury in Rotorua convicted Curran of murdering Aaliyah Morrissey, and extensive suppression orders were lifted over the killer's past.
Justice Mark Cooper had released Curran back into the community just two months before Aaliyah's death, after he was charged over the death of Natasha Hayden at McLaren Falls Park.
Curran killed Mrs Hayden on January 10, 2005.
Curran assaulted Aaliyah on September 13 that year, while he was babysitting. Aaliyah died of massive brain injuries two days later in Starship Children's Hospital.
Curran's mother speaks
The mother of convicted killer Michael Curran is struggling to come to terms with what her son has done, and wants the families of Aaliyah Morrissey and Natasha Hayden to know she is truly sorry.
"As a mother you love your children. But you don't have to condone any wrong that they do. It has gutted me deeply that a child of mine has been responsible for the loss of a life, or lives," said Sue Curran, fighting back tears.
Speaking at home in Tauranga, Curran said she did not believe her son inflicted Aaliyah's injuries with the intention of killing her. But he had also lied to her, telling her the baby had been hurt by accident.
"If he had told me he had shaken the baby, I would have rung the ambulance straight away, and then the police, because I would have been livid. I'm still so angry that he didn't tell me that."
She said her life had turned into a "living nightmare". One of the hardest things was that "people get the idea the rest of the family is like that".
"I can't speak for Michael ... he probably is sorry, but I don't know. All I know is I can speak for me and the rest of my family in saying I'm sorry. This has devastated us and my heart goes out to them."
Asked if she still supported her son, she said: "No, I don't support him, not for what's happened. But as a mother I can't turn my back on him totally." She said she might visit her son in prison.
Curran's wife Donna and her three children, aged 3, 7, and 9, had moved to a house in the same street as their grandmother.
It was now her job to help them overcome the challenges they will face. "Those children are going to suffer."