Dead twins' father no longer speaking to police

The father of twin boys who died from multiple injuries over the weekend is now refusing to speak to police, his lawyer says.

Police have told the Mangere man that he is not a suspect but his lawyer has instructed him to stay silent.

Chris and Cru Kahui, aged three months, died about 12 hours apart, several days after relatives took them to Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital. The two boys, from Mangere in south Auckland, both had head injuries and one had a broken thighbone.

Lawyer Lorraine Smith said the twins' father, Chris Kahui, made a statement to police before she had been instructed to act for him and police had now refused to hand over a transcript of the video from the interview.

"The police have elected not to give it to me, so I am closing police access to Chris down until they comply with their obligations to his counsel," Mrs Smith told National Radio today.

Police had told Mrs Smith they would not hand over the transcript of Mr Kahui -- in his early twenties -- because he was a witness and not a suspect in the twins' death, she said.

"Well that may be, but my view is that anyone who had anything to do with the twins either on the day they received their injuries or days preceding the events are clearly suspects," she said.

"So until the police let me see what Chris has already said on the video he is going to exercise his right to silence."

Mrs Smith denied her client was refusing to help the police. "He's already helped the police," she said.

Mrs Smith said Mr Kahui and his partner, the mother of the twins, were "entirely supportive" of each other.

The extended family was very close but Mrs Smith said she was unable to expand further on the situation.

Mr Kahui was devastated by the deaths and would not be commenting any further until the funeral was over and he was able to compose himself, she said.

If police wanted further co-operation they would have to come forward with the transcript.

No one had been charged over the deaths.

The police assault inquiry was upgraded to a homicide early on Sunday morning when Cru died. It became a double homicide when Chris died on Sunday night.

The post mortem on the bodies of the twins lasted most of yesterday, police said.

They hoped to release more details of the injuries and how the baby boys may have received them.

Child Youth and Family confirmed yesterday two older children from the Mangere family home had been removed and were with a foster family. They would stay there until social workers were confident they would not be at risk if they returned to the home.

The babies were taken to hospital on Tuesday by family members and it is believed the boys' parents stayed at their bedsides until both died.

Marie Dyhrberg, the lawyer acting for the twins' mother, would not comment on what her client had spoken to police about.

Nor would she comment on the decision by the twins father's lawyer Lorraine Smith, to stop police speaking to him because police had refused to provide a copy of his statement.

Ms Dyhrberg said anything between herself and the twins' mother was "absolutely privileged", meaning it was protected by the privacy between a lawyer and her client.

- NZPA