Samoan Kiwi killed in chilling double homicide had just arrived on holiday

A Samoan-Kiwi man had been in Samoa less than 24 hours when he and another man were killed. Photo / File

A Samoan New Zealander caught up in a chilling double homicide in Samoa had been in the island nation less than a day when he was killed.

The 69-year-old Hamilton man had just touched down in his motherland for a short holiday; with the intention of returning to New Zealand to spend Christmas with a daughter and her family in Christchurch.

But now the family is planning a funeral and speaking with authorities after their father and another man were killed in what local police have dubbed a "horrific'' double murder.

One of the New Zealand man's four daughters told the Herald their father was a Kiwi citizen who had worked and lived here for 41 years.

She and her sisters and their mother, in her 60s, are now in Samoa - called to formally identify their father.

"Mum is still grieving and coming to grips with the loss of her pensioner husband while he was on holiday."

A statement released by police described the scene met by officers as "horrific.''

Last Friday morning, police were called to a property in the village of Leulumoega - about 6km from Faleolo International Airport - where they discovered the bodies of two men "badly slayed,'' police said.

It is understood the men's injuries were extremely severe - with relatives of both men describing, on social media, that what they went through was "torture''.

The pair, later identified as the 69-year-old Samoan-Kiwi and a 42-year-old local man who was a family friend, were found near an outside kitchen.

Police said the alleged murders occured at 7.05am.

"We are unable to speak about the younger man who was killed, but he was working on the land and was not our brother-in-law. He is a local from Samoa," the daughter said.

The family could not go into detail about the circumstances surrounding the deaths, but it was made clear that the man charged with murder had no familial connections to the victims.

A New Zealand-based son-in-law said they had been looking forward to having their father-in-law in Christchurch for the holidays.

"He was going to come and spend Christmas with us; come down here and see the grandkids again. He wasn't going to take very long over there."

A 24-year-old man from the village of Falefa has been arrested in relation to the deaths and has been charged with murder.

He is due to appear in court on December 10.