KEY POINTS:
The family of south Auckland home invasion victim Yan Ping Yang say her children don't want to go back to her home until her attacker is caught.
Five family members appeared before media today following Mrs Yang's funeral, urging her killer to give himself up.
Mrs Yang, 80, died at the weekend from injuries sustained in a home invasion eight days ago in Saralee Drive, Manurewa East.
Four of her 14 grandchildren - Gavin Su, Lily Su, Steven Ngo and Diane Ngo - and her nephew Tim Wong said they were scared.
Police are likely to finish their forensic examination of the home by tomorrow and hand it back to Mrs Yang's children, who run a nearby takeaway store.
But Lily Su said she had been told by her cousin that Mrs Yang's children did not want to go back to the house, where they had lived for six months.
"They said that if you catch the guy then yeah, they will move back, they will feel more safe and secure," Ms Su said.
"We just want him caught. We just want to take the weight off our shoulders. We definitely don't want this to happen to anybody else."
Mr Wang said the main thing he wanted to tell the attacker, who Mrs Yang described as a Maori or Polynesian man aged 30 to 40, dressed in a white T-shirt and black shorts, was to come forward.
"I don't know you can live with yourself. To just attack an 80-year-old woman who's defenceless - she'd be lucky if she was 45kg - just to brutally assault her like that without any guilt, I just think that's impossible," he said."
"I don't know what drove him to do it but he should come forward."
Mr Wang said Mrs Yang had lived a remarkable life, surviving the Japanese occupation in World War 2 and the great Chinese famine before moving to New Zealand.
"For this to happen to her has greatly saddened and shocked us all," he said.
"Her whole life has been about her dedication to her family. She came to New Zealand to help raise her grandchildren so her own children could concentrate on work.
"With the grandkids, now grown up, she was finally able to relax and enjoy the fruits of her labour. For her to have all this taken away by the sickening act of random violence is a real tragedy."
The family said her attacker probably entered the house through a window as Mrs Yang was usually cautious about opening the door to strangers.
" She might have been old but she was very with it mentally and physically there was nothing wrong with her as well," Mr Wang said.
"She was a very healthy person. I don't want to speculate, but I think she had a good 10 years in her easy."
For the first two days after the attack Mrs Yang initially appeared as if like she could survive, being conscious and able to converse with the family.
She told them to be good, study hard, and "don't miss me too much", a phrase she used before her attack every time she saw her grandchildren.
Gavin Su said she was almost unrecognisable in her hospital bed after the attack, with a heavily swollen and bruised face.
"Her neck looked like she'd been strangled really hard. She had black marks all round her neck and she couldn't open one of her eyes.
"It was like a totally different person. I can't believe he did this to her, how much difference he made to my grandmother."
Farewelled in a Buddhist ceremony today, Mrs Yang's grandchildren said they would remember her smile, her ability to gossip, and her love of Fear Factor and professional wrestling on television.
"I remember she wouldn't go to bed, she'd watch wrestling with us. She would know each character by their name in Chinese," Mr Su said.
"She was a pretty hip grandmother."
Police inquiry head Detective Inspector Mark Gutry said investigators still hadn't been able to establish if anything was missing from the house.
He said about 40 staff were on the case, many making door-to-door inquiries, and forensic teams were examining fingerprints at the scene.
" The first thing we've got to do is eliminate prints from the family. We'll be checking that so we should know in a day or two."
- NZPA
