Hāwera double homicide: Father and son found dead

Forensic and ESR teams spent most of Monday inside the Hāwera house where two people were killed. Photo / Charlotte Cook, RNZ

The two people killed in a Hāwera home early Monday morning were a father and son, court documents reveal.

Police found Stephen Frost and his son Regan Frost-Lawn dead after being called to a property in Manawa pou Rd at 2.30am on Monday where two bodies were found.

The victims were named in court documents also revealing a 21-year-old had been charged with their murder.

The accused appeared before Judge Tony Greig in the New Plymouth District Court on Monday afternoon on two counts of murder.

Judge Greig granted interim name suppression and remanded the accused in custody to reappear in the High Court at New Plymouth on February 9.

For residents waking up near the Manawapou Rd property, there was shock, horror and confusion, RNZ reported.

Flowers left by locals outside the property. Photo / Charlotte Cook, RNZ

Some were shaken up, while others couldn't believe what had happened a few metres away.

One resident said they knew the man who lived there, and that he had a couple of children.

"It's quite shocking to hear something like this happening in Hāwera," another said.

This neighbour, who shared a boundary fence with the property, said the community and those close to the house would be feeling it.

"I think everyone's probably in shock and we're like, whoa... And it was only over the back, ya know?"

He, among the other residents RNZ spoke to, said they had heard nothing on Sunday evening or Monday morning.

-Additional reporting RNZ