KEY POINTS:
A South Auckland primary school principal says more male role models are needed in the region to stem the flow of violence following two murders in two days in the area last week.
Shirley Maihi, who is the principal of Finlayson Park School in Manurewa, said a man could have a "far greater impact" than a woman could have on impressionable young boys.
Her comments follow the deaths of Krishna Naidu and Pihema Cameron, who were both stabbed to death in separate incidents in Manurewa last week.
Mr Naidu's father, Hari Raj Naidu, told the Herald his family had not returned to the scene where his son was murdered and were "slowly picking up the bits and pieces" of their lives.
"It's a tragic loss which no parent should face ... especially when it is your only son," said Mr Naidu.
The 50-year-old said the funeral rites were still continuing and they were having prayers every night "for the departed soul".
But he was less charitable for the 16-year-old who allegedly killed his son on Friday.
"There has to be severe punishment for severe crime ... there should not be any excuse for such brutal crimes no matter what excuse they give," he said.
Ms Maihi told the Herald the two youths involved in the incidents probably could have benefited from positive male influences. Many young boys in the area did not have father figures at home and often at school, she said.
"A lot of boys can and are going right through primary school and not have a male teacher until they get to high school," said Ms Maihi.
As head of the decile one Manurewa school for the past 18 years, Ms Maihi said she had seen a "steady drop" in the age where children started displaying anti-social tendencies.
Boys as young as six were now getting into trouble at the school.
"It used to be kids who were about 11 but these days some of the really young kids are starting to rear their heads and they're rebelling against their parents, against the school and become quite anti-social."
She advocated a mentoring programme be set up for problem children "as early as possible".
Crosspower Ministries co-manager, Sully Paea, who works with at-risk youth in Otara, agreed but said boys also needed to be doing "men's stuff".
Part of his course for 13 to 16-year-olds discarded by the school system for repeated anti-social behaviour involves engine and motorcycle repairs.
"We do men's stuff in the shed - the kind of things you can't do with females and it's in there we can talk about issues," said Mr Paea.
He said 80 per cent of the youths he worked with had no male role models and over time many of the boys' realised this was part of the cause for their predicament.
"The only ones [role models] they're seeing these days are the gangs riding Harley Davidson motorbikes and that's what they want to be," said Mr Paea
But Manukau Mayor Len Brown said the issue was "not just about dads".
"The nuclear families are an essential. It's mostly about having really good family support in the broader sense but also moral and principled direction - that can be from a religious base or a right and wrong base," said Mr Brown.
