KEY POINTS:
One of the hardest things for Jyniah Te Awa's grieving family to accept is that she was repeatedly left in a closed freezer. Her grandfather, who works for a freezing company, struggled so much with the idea that he went to work one day, took off his protective gear and stood in the cooler for as long as possible, just to try to imagine what his moko (granddaughter) had gone through.
The abuse the 10-month-old suffered at the hands of her trusted caregiver has left her immediate family dealing with a devastating ripple effect that has torn her whanau in two.
Tiana Kapea was like an older sister to Jyniah's father, Ike Te Awa, and a good friend of her mother, Lisa Cassidy. After the baby's death, the two families clashed and no longer speak.
The stress of Jyniah's death also left her parents fighting as they tried to deal with their grief.
For the first few months they were treated like suspects. Their other two children - then aged 6 and 3 - were taken away and they were allowed only limited supervised access.
During that time the children were questioned about what had happened and whether they had been abused. The questions still haunt both children, especially the older one, who is now 7.
She has had nightmares and badly misses her baby sister. The children, like their parents, are getting counselling.
But they are trying to focus on the positive and look to the future.
Inside their home are numerous reminders of Jyniah.
Outside, there is a memorial garden. It seems fitting, because only a week before her death, Jyniah had sat in the sun, giggling as she watched her mother plant a heart-shaped garden. Says Lisa Cassidy: "She was the reason we made it a heart."
