The eldest daughter of slain liquor store owner Navtej Singh has repeatedly been asking where her father is but has been told only that he is in hospital.
Mr Singh's brother-in-law Manjinder Singh said through an interpreter yesterday that his nieces and their mother, Harjinder Kaur, 30, were
still struggling to comprehend what's happened. The killing robbed the three girls, aged 5, 3, and 6 months, of their father.
"The kids are still asking where their Dad is. They're wondering why their Dad is not at home," Mr Singh said. "They pick up the ... phonecalls that have come in thinking that it's Dad calling. The elder one has asked just some time ago, 'When is my Dad going to come home? Will you take me to my Dad?' The kids have just been told that their Dad is in hospital."
Mr Singh said Indian culture made it unlikely his sister would remarry because she had three young children and now had the added responsibility of her husband's elderly parents.
Navtej Singh was the family's breadwinner and they faced an uncertain financial future.
They might have to return to India if his parents decided to go back there.
Manjinder Singh urged the public to help police find the offenders, a call repeated by a close friend of the victim, Sunny Singh, who was among the many family members at the Singh home last night.
As the female family members supported the "speechless" widow, the men sat in a circle in the garage, sharing memories.
Questions of "why" were also being asked and the group discussed a review they believe is needed of police and ambulance response procedures after an apparent delay in help getting to Navtej Singh as he lay dying.
"They should review their system, especially the delay," one of the men said.
Manurewa was a small community with a small population and police should have better resources to protect store owners.
"How come the police don't have that much power and people are carrying guns on the street?"
Friends and family of Navtej Singh also gathered outside his Riverton Drive store, which remained closed and under guard last night, and some of them left behind flowers and tributes.
