Stabbed children named

The two children found stabbed to death in an Otaki Beach house were yesterday named as TeHau TeHoro O'Carroll, 10, and his sister, Ngamata Purotu O'Carroll, 2.

Bronson O'Carroll, 30, the children's father, was the other person who died of stab wounds, in his case on the lawn of the family's beachfront cottage.

The children's bodies were removed last night and the body of Mr O'Carroll was removed late yesterday afternoon, said Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan of Palmerston North.

Police were speaking with family members. "It will take some days to piece together the events leading up to and surrounding this tragedy."

Police, forensic scientists and pathologists continued their work at the Marine Parade house yesterday, Mr Sheridan said.

"These deaths are a huge shock to the Otaki community. Police, along with community leaders, are supporting the community."

A team of 26 police were working on the investigation, he said.

It was reported yesterday that Mr O'Carroll might have been suffering from depression.

Otaki Community Board chairwoman Queenie Rikihana-Hyland told the IRN radio network that she believed he had nobody to turn to in the community, despite the close nature of the townspeople.

Ann Chapman, Otaki Ward councillor on the Kapiti Coast District Council, said the settlement, south of Levin, was isolated and lacked many basic services, a problem that affected many small towns.

Mr Sheridan said police were speaking to the children's mother, who was extremely traumatised.

Police also talked to a man who was at the scene when emergency services arrived but no one is being sought in connection with the deaths.

The man was not a suspect, Mr Sheridan said.

One woman who spoke briefly as residents gathered at the cordon on Monday night said Mr O'Carroll was her nephew.

Visibly upset, she shook her head and said: "I don't know why he did it."

A neighbour said the family had lived there quite a while and she had often seen Mr O'Carroll playing with the children.

But over the past few weeks they had been quiet and the mother, believed to be from Porirua, had not been seen at the house.

Shannon Youth 2000 Trust chairman Robert Ketu said Mr O'Carroll was a "choice young fellow".

"He was a quiet, family-type man."

- NZPA