Children from twins' house to stay in foster homes

Both twins died in Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital. Picture / Herald on Sunday.

Two older children taken from the home of dead baby twins Chris and Cru Kahui will stay in foster care until they are known to be safe.

Child Youth and Family removed the two children from the Mangere house last week after the three-month-old twins were taken to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland with life-threatening head injuries last Tuesday. One also had a broken thigh.

Both twins died yesterday - Cru early yesterday morning and Chris last night.

The deaths escalated the police investigation from an assault case into a double homicide.

Today Child Youth and Family said the safety and welfare of the two older children from the family was paramount and they would stay with a foster family until police had finished their investigation and social workers were confident they were not in danger.

But the children's maternal grandfather told the Herald on Sunday the family were working through lawyers to have the other children returned.

It is believed family members took both babies to hospital last week and maintained a bedside vigil at the hospital until they died yesterday.

Pathologists were due to perform an autopsy examination on both bodies today.

CYF said today they had no idea of how long the older children would be in foster care but it would depend on the police inquiry.

However, they said CYF was determined social workers had to be satisfied the children would not be put at risk by being sent back to the family.

The service said it had had no dealings with the family before the twins were admitted to hospital.

Lorraine Williams, CYF general manager of operations, said the harming of the twins was a tragedy, "not just for the family but for all of us, knowing that this could and should have been prevented".

Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro said it was too early to say if her office would carry out an inquiry.

She said 80 per cent of children who were killed in New Zealand between 1991 and 2001 were not known to CYF.

Detective Senior Sergeant John Tims said yesterday that the police were not interviewing any suspects and no charges were pending.

A team of 14 officers had been carrying out inquiries since the babies were admitted to hospital.

- NZPA / NZ HERALD