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The mother of three young children seriously injured in a frenzied knife attack by their father, has begged a judge to keep her family safe.
Fa'anamu Milford has been sentenced to 15 years jail for the February attack, in which he also stabbed his three young children, in the Lower Hutt suburb of Naenae.
His name was previously suppressed.
Milford received a minimum non-parole period of 10 years for injuring the children and kidnapping their mother.
The children's mother wept throughout as she read a impact victim statement, and was at times incoherent.
Responding to a call from the children's mother who had fled the house to get help during a row with Milford, police arrived at the family's Wilkie Street home to find the children covered in blood.
They broke down the door and used a taser on Milford, who was wielding a 15cm carving knife.
The baby boy had internal injuries and stab wounds on his back and abdomen. His 18-month-old sister had abdominal, chest and neck wounds. The oldest child had injuries to her chest, abdomen and face.
All three had emergency surgery and police said they were lucky to be alive.
The children's mother told court she is all but destroyed as a person, but her real fear is for her children.
The woman says they suffer violent flashbacks and constant nightmares their father will return to kill them, and she feels she has blood on her hands as she should have left her partner earlier.
The defence says tests show Fa'anamu is bordering on being intellectually disabled and he is now relieved his children are still alive.
Women's Refuge chief executive Heather Henare said she hoped today's sentencing would prompt women living with domestic violence to act before it is too late.
Ms Henare said it was extremely fortunate the children survived the attack, but they would bear the physical and emotional scars for the rest of their lives.
She said the incident should serve as a chilling warning to many women.
"The partner in this case experienced violence over some years, and had hoped he would change, had forgiven him and desperately tried to make their relationship work.
"He'd said he would change, cried and kept promising it wouldn't happen again, but of course it did.
"She said she feared for herself at times, but never thought the children were at risk. What happened showed just how tragically mistaken she was."
Ms Henare said sadly the woman's story was far from an isolated case, and she hoped it would serve as a wake-up call for others.
" Particularly around Christmas we're urging women to keep themselves and their children safe, have a safety plan in place and not to be afraid or ashamed to get help."
She hoped the lengthy jail sentence given to Milford would highlight the issue of men's violence and prompt some men to examine their own actions and behaviour.
-Newstalk ZB, NZPA
