Baby girl will never meet dad

Cherize and baby Zekaiya with a photo of Hugh. Photo / Lisa Tauroa

Daughter born 103 days after her young dad died in a landslide.

Zekaiya Biddle has the eyes and chin of a father she will never meet.

Hugh Biddle, 17, was buried in a landslide at his Ohope Beach home, leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend Cherize Kutia, 16.

After a 12-hour labour, Cherize gave birth to a 3.8kg baby girl 10 days ago, 103 days after Hugh's death.

They chose the name together, and Cherize says she sees her late boyfriend every time she looks into her daughter's eyes.

"She has his eyes and his chin.

"I have got a memory book made for her with photos and things. He is going to be a big part of her life."

Cherize said she planned to keep Hugh's memory alive by telling her about his exploits on the rugby field for Trident High School.

She said: "She has all his friends pretty heavily involved with her, so they can tell her their own stories about him."

Hugh had tickets to go to all of the All Blacks matches at Eden Park with his foster father Rob Shaw.

Shaw tried in vain to hack his way into the bedroom at the back of his house where Hugh had been buried in 4m of mud and debris.

Shaw, the principal at Taneatua School, said it had been emotional making the trip up for the All Blacks games without Hugh: "It has been tough."

Cherize named her daughter Zekaiya Lamour Shaw Biddle, as a tribute to the principal.

She said she has watched some of the New Zealand games with the newborn.

"We dress her up in little All Blacks outfits."

Cherize, who turns 17 next April, said she had coped well with the demands of motherhood. She lives with her mother and three siblings in Whakatane, and said she wanted to return to school next year.

She hasn't been able to bring herself to return to the house where Hugh died, which is still uninhabitable.

Mechanical diggers were called to clear the debris after tonnes of earth and vegetation slid down a 100m bank on to the house on June 18.

Biddle had just started a welding apprenticeship in Opotiki when the landslide occurred.