KEY POINTS:
The detective in charge of the Nia Glassie murder inquiry utters just one word when he is asked what haunts him most about the horrific child abuse inquiry - "three".
Rotorua Detective Sergeant Garry Hawkins, himself a father of two, says that for him personally, Nia's age was the most troubling part of the inquiry.
Mr Hawkins, a police officer of 17 years, ranks the case as probably the worst in his career.
He has worked on many murder and child abuse inquiries, including the 1998 home invasion-murder of Reporoa woman Beverly Bouma, 45, who was shot after four armed men stormed into her home.
"Every murder is a tragedy in its own way," he said.
"But certainly a 3-year-old child has its own uniqueness, I guess, in terms of someone that's not able to defend themselves. It's not like an adult."
Adding yet another dimension to the tragedy was the extreme abuse inflicted on Nia, who survived being spun around on a washing line until she fell off, placed in a clothes drier and having objects thrown at her before eventually succumbing to three kicks to her head - 14 days after they were inflicted on June 20 last year.
"It's been a serious case of child abuse that hasn't just been a one-off angry incident, it's been something that's evolved over a number of days."
Mr Hawkins said being the father of teenage children had brought the inquiry closer to home.
"Like everybody else, we have children and we want to see them grow up and be happy, prosperous adults."
Mr Hawkins said it was too early to say if the case had left any lasting impressions on him.
Despite a long and demanding trial lasting more than four weeks, it was back to work "as usual" when the Herald met him at Rotorua police station yesterday.
"We're just getting on with the next one [inquiry], and there will be one after that."
Asked if anything could be learned from Nia's death, Mr Hawkins said he hoped people would come forward and report child abuse if they saw it.
Of New Zealand's shocking child abuse statistics, he said it seemed that a lot of the services for help were like an "ambulance at the bottom of the cliff".
But like many others upset with the situation, Mr Hawkins found the issue too complex for any one answer.
However, taking personal responsibility by reporting abuse was a good place to start, he said.
For now, work on the case is over - the horrific details condensed in Mr Hawkins' office. Thousands of pages of evidence fill about 20 large ringbinders, taking up most of a shelf.
Other exhibits from the case, including the clothes drier Nia was placed in during the lead-up to her murder, will remain in storage, while Mr Hawkins waits to hear if there will be any appeals from the five accused of child abuse and murder.
The detective said interest in the case and messages of support had been sent to some of the officers working on the inquiry.
When asked about the personal toll the case had taken on officers, Mr Hawkins said that it was the case with any inquiry - welfare services such as counselling were available.
There was no way of knowing whether more officers than usual had opted for support over Nia's case compared with other cases because the support was always confidential, Mr Hawkins said.
A sentencing date for Nia's abusers - brothers Michael Curtis, 22, and Wiremu Curtis, 19, Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, 35, Oriwa Kemp, 18, and Michael Pearson, 20 - has not yet been set.
