Mother pays tribute to her murdered children

Hundreds gathered at Taniwha Marae before Asia, Jairus and Grace Osborne were taken to Mt Taupiri for burial. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Three New Zealand children shot dead by their father in Australia before he killed himself were laid to rest at their family's ancestral marae yesterday as their mother broke her silence.

Asia, 12, Jairus, 10, and 7-year-old Grace Osborne were gunned down by their father Raj at their Melbourne home on April 10.

Their New Zealand-born mother Shianne Singh fought to bring her children's bodies back to New Zealand against the wishes of her ex-husband's new girlfriend.

Before the funeral, Singh, 30, said she had not seen her children for four years after being terrorised by Raj.

In an interview screening tomorrow on Maori TV's Native Affairs, she said: "He started threatening me when he knew I had no one to support me if he did something and that really scared me to argue with him every day, be beaten up by him every day, to be sexually abused by him. It was just happening so much that at that point there was no way out for me.

"I think it was a revenge thing against me. He knew that if he'd done his own life then the kids would come straight to me."

Singh paid tribute to her "fun-loving" kids. "They loved life, as children do," she said.

"They were smart and good at whatever they did. I can't describe how it feels but it is good knowing they are back where they belong. They will always be a part of our lives and now I know they are at peace."

She said the battle to bring the bodies home had "added stress to a very difficult time".

The three-day tangi began on Thursday at the Taniwha Marae near Huntly, with hundreds of family and friends gathering to pay their respects.

At 11.30am yesterday, the bodies were brought out in three white coffins to the strains of a traditional waiata.

Under heavy rain, a kaumatua led the procession of around 50 family and friends.

Mourners wept as the coffins were loaded in to silver hearses for the 35km drive to the family's burial ground at Mt Taupiri.

The burial party arrived at the urupa, or cemetery, just after midday, carrying the bodies across a railway line to walk to the the summit. The bodies were taken to one of the highest points of the mountain where they were laid to rest.

Their sister Aroha (who died at eight weeks from bronchial pneumonia) and other relatives are buried in the cemetery.

Singh flew out of Melbourne on Thursday with the bodies. A private family service was held in Werribee, Melbourne, with both grandmothers on Monday night.

Singh's mother vowed to make sure the children were not buried alongside their father.

She said: "I certainly don't want the murderer of my children buried next to them. At any cost I will not let that happen."