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The granddaughter of a woman fatally bashed in a home invasion said her grandmother's last words to her were: "You must help me catch the attacker."
Selina Wong said she was determined to help the police do just that after her grandma, 80-year-old Yang Yin Ping, died on Saturday.
Police say they do not know the motive for the attack, but believe they will have a better idea after an autopsy today.
Mrs Yang was admitted to Middlemore Hospital on Wednesday with serious internal injuries - including broken rib and chest bones - and had told police she was grabbed from behind before being assaulted and forced into a wardrobe.
Her murder comes after shopkeeper Navtej Singh was gunned down during an armed robbery a week earlier.
Miss Wong, 25, said her grandmother, who had moved to New Zealand from Guangzhou, China, 18 years ago, watched television all day at her home in Manurewa with the volume turned up high and windows open.
"We are not only shocked at the violence, but the boldness of the killer - he came in even knowing that somebody was in the house," she told the Herald in Cantonese. "It was like he wasn't afraid of anything."
Miss Wong said family members are finding it hard to accept "the way grandma was killed".
"Even before she died, she was still very scared and made us promise not to let her go back to the same house when she came out of hospital," she said.
Her father, Dave Wong, 48, who owns a nearby fish-and-chip shop, said they were now staying with another family member, and would be too afraid to go back to the house.
Mr Wong said his takeaway shop had been burgled three times in the past four years, and he feared for his and the family's safety after what had happened to his mother.
"At the moment we cannot return to the house because of ongoing police investigations, but even when that is over, we are afraid that the attacker might return," he said. "I do not feel safe in New Zealand because the laws are so soft that even the criminals are not afraid of them."
Detectives investigating the murder believe the attacker entered the home through insecure windows.
Detective Inspector Mark Gutry said: "At this stage everything's open as to what the motive is.
"Whether it's burglary, whether it was assault, whatever it was, we've no idea at the moment."
Mr Gutry said Mrs Yang did not know her attacker. It seemed that nothing had been stolen from the home, although the Yang family would need to confirm that once the scene examination was complete.
"Once all the forensics come back and everything else, we may have a better idea over what the motive was but we still have to wait for all of that to happen.
"After the post-mortem we'll have a better idea. At this stage we have no information to indicate there was a sexual attack as well but we will be looking at that as well."
Police are challenged, having only a vague description of the offender.
They were informed of the attack only 24 hours afterwards because Mrs Yang was unconscious when her son found her, and he thought she had suffered a fall.
However, Mr Gutry said: "We'll be doing everything we can to apprehend this person".
Mrs Yang's attacker is described as a male Maori or Pacific Islander, aged approximately 30 to 40.
He was wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts and may had some regrowth, stubble, or the beginnings of a moustache.
Police are keen to hear from anyone who saw a person matching the description in the area around 5.30pm on Wednesday.
