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The family of slain Scottish backpacker Karen Aim arrives in the country today, with her father vowing to sit through each day of the murder trial.
"The main question for me is how was Karen killed?" Brian Aim told the Herald.
"Was she chased and terrorised, or was she clubbed from behind and never knew it had happened? I hope that question will be answered through the trial. It may not be but I am quite determined to hear as much as I can of the trial. I might not be able to face it."
A year after Karen's January 17 killing - while on a working holiday in Taupo - the family still think about her every day.
"The last time I spoke to Karen was the 3rd of January 2008 and we'd planned to come out to see her in February and March 2009," Mr Aim said.
"So we've still set that time but instead of coming to see her we're coming to attend a trial for the person who's accused of her murder. It's a bit of a strange feeling."
Mr Aim, his wife Peggy and their 25-year-old son Alan - who live on the remote Orkney Islands in northern Scotland - will travel around the country in the two weeks before the trial, meeting friends Karen made while living here and descendants of family members who left Orkney for New Zealand in the 1800s.
"Most of them we didn't know until Karen died and they've made contact and asked to come along. And there's about 10 couples from New Zealand that have visited us in the last year, and really just come to say sorry on behalf of the New Zealand public for what happened and all offered us accommodation and we've accepted some of their accommodation, too."
They also hope to visit St Paul's Union Presbyterian Church in Taupo where a memorial service was held for Miss Aim at the same time as she was laid to rest in Orkney.
The family have been sent about 200 cards and letters from New Zealanders since her death. About 300 people attended a traditional dance, or ceilidh, on January 10 in Orkney to mark the first anniversary of her death.
The family of the 15-year-old boy accused of the murder - due to appear in the High Court at Rotorua on February 9 - has asked through police if the Aim family will meet them. The family has accepted the invitation.
Miss Aim's auntie, Violet Perfect of Palmerston North, spoke on behalf of the family at the time of the killing.
She said she hadn't decided if she would attend the trial.
Miss Aim's boss Christine Robb, from Taupo's Lava Glass gallery, said several people from Orkney had visited the memorial garden they planted.
FLATMATES HANG ON TO REMINDERS
Karen Aim's shampoo is still sitting in the shower of her old Taupo flat. Her fabric softener is in the laundry and some of her food remains in the cupboards.
A year on from her January 17, 2008 death, her former flatmates still don't know what to do with it all.
Lisa Hughes and Collette Martin managed to pack up her bedroom belongings and send them back to Scotland, but can't part with everything.
"It's weird packing up someone else's life," Miss Hughes told the Herald. "These are the things she bought while she was over here to use."
Miss Aim's body was found on a street corner near Taupo Nui-a-Tia College, just a few hundred metres from her flat.
Her flatmates changed all the locks after the killing, and during the two months her alleged killer was on the loose were too afraid to walk to their letter-box alone.
Miss Hughes, 23, said she still has not been able to walk home from anywhere since the incident and when she goes out at night will always ask a bouncer to walk her to the nearest taxi.
The women have let only friends of Karen stay in her old bedroom.
"If we got someone else, how do we tell them that the girl who used to occupy that room died so tragically?" Miss Hughes said.
Miss Hughes' boss has given her the last week of the murder trial off work.
"I want to be there for [Miss Aim's parents] Brian and Peggy for support. It's going to be hard for them to see how close she was to home when she died. I also want to go for closure for myself."