North Shore death: Victim's partner says he was 'the nicest person you will ever meet'

Police at the scene of the North Shore homicide. New Zealand Herald photograph / Alex Burton

The partner of a man who was allegedly murdered on the North Shore says she was with him just hours before his death and will always wish she asked him to stay for longer.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said her 25-year-old partner died in a senseless attack at his home on Thursday evening.

"He is the nicest person you will ever meet," she told the Herald on Sunday. "It was really hard to see that he died just like that.

"I was just with him before that happened. So it's just really hard to process."

A 37 year-old man appeared in North Shore District Court yesterday, charged with murder and causing grievous bodily harm to another person. His name, occupation and job are suppressed. The two victims also cannot be named.

The alleged killer was known to the dead man. The woman said they had never argued or fought.

"It is really surprising to us, why would he do that?"

The victim moved to New Zealand from India in 2018 to study, and was now working.

His partner, who had been in relationship with him for a year, said they had gone to the supermarket together on Thursday afternoon. He then had to go home for a meeting at 4pm.

"I told him to go, go faster because you won't make your meeting."

It was the last time she saw him alive. He texted her around 4.30pm to tell her he was doing laundry, and she told him to get in touch when he was finished.

"After that, he didn't reply and I only thought he was still doing some chores or playing some games."

At the victim's property, neighbours told the Herald on Sunday they heard the man shouting "help" from a second-storey window. Police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene around 5.30pm.

"I had no idea what was happening," the woman said. "At around nine I asked one of his friends is [he] with you because he was still not replying to me. And then he didn't reply to me. So I was thinking they are busy or doing something else.

"Then, right before I went to bed I was doing something on my tablet and I turned off all the applications and the last one was Google Chrome with a tab open on New Zealand Herald.

"I suddenly thought 'Let's check the news now, what's happening'. I saw an article that was published around 7.30[pm]. It says one person died, one person seriously injured. And then when I opened it it was 'I know this place, this is his house'. And I saw the car, it's his car.

"I was like, 'oh my God, is he injured, what's happening?'"

The next few hours were a blur. She called his friend at the flat and got no response. She went to the scene with her flatmate but police could not provide any details, so they returned home.

"When I got back home, my friend called me, and I asked him 'Is it him?' and he said 'Yes'.

"And he said 'I tried to save him but I couldn't'."

Police officers turned up on her doorstep later that night.

"That's when I confirmed that he was really the one who died. It was crazy, so crazy."

"I wish I could have asked him to stay longer with me so he didn't need to go back to his home," she said, choking back tears.

The victim had no family in New Zealand. His partner was talking to his relatives in India to arrange a funeral, and they wanted his body flown back there.

In the time since his death, she had been clinging to memories of his last days.

On Monday, they were behind a woman with a baby in the checkout queue at a supermarket.

"She is alone, so she's putting the stuff in the counter herself and it's hard and he went straight and helped her to put her food in the checkout.

"That is how he is. He is that kind of gentle guy. He really doesn't deserve this."