KEY POINTS:
Double murder accused Chris Kahui told family he wanted to "end everyone's hurt" and hand himself in to police, after his critically injured twin boys were admitted to Auckland's Starship Hospital, a court was told today.
Stuart King, Chris and Cru Kahui's uncle, said Kahui told him on three different occasions he wanted to turn himself in to police but did not admit any responsibility for his sons' injuries.
Mr King, brother of the twins' mother Macsyna King, was giving evidence for the prosecution on the third day of depositions hearing at Manukau District Court to determine whether Kahui should stand trial for murdering three month old Chris and Cru.
Mr King told the court he had been left alone with the twins around the time they were injured but denied hurting them.
He agreed with the defence he had a conviction in 2002 for assaulting a nine-year-old boy, by kicking him and punching him in the face.
He told the police at the time of his conviction he had anger management issues and needed parenting skills.
Chris and Cru Kahui were admitted to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital on June 13 last year and died in the city's Starship Children's Hospital five days later.
The twins were killed either by a blow to their heads or by having their heads bashed against a solid object.
Their father was charged with their murder four months after they died.
Crown prosecutor Simon Moore said the injuries were of the kind received in high velocity car crashes.
'Severe' injuries
This afternoon, pathologist Dr Jane Zuccollo told the court the force used on the twins was so severe that they would not have been able to be feed immediately after being injured due to their brain injuries.
She said as well as showing severe brain injuries, the twins both had old as well as new rib fractures.
All of their injuries were from non-accidental incidents consistent with a severe impact, she said.
Dr Zuccollo said the injuries would have had such an immediate impact on the babies that they would not have been able to be fed afterwards.
She said the injuries would have been so traumatic the infants would not have been normal immediately or within 10 minutes after the incident, she said.
Reports that Cru was not breathing properly on the Monday evening was significant and was consistent with receiving a head injury, she said.
Both boys had rib injuries, sustained from either gripping or shaking around the rib cage, she said.
It would be rare for CPR to cause the injuries, if the person knew what they were doing, she said.
Under cross-examination Dr Zuccollo said that while the brain injuries both babies received were severe they may not have been detected immediately.
The twins may have had seizures, appeared irritable or been twitching, she said.
The Crown's case is that the babies received their injuries while in the care of their father on the evening of Monday, June 12, 2006, when Ms King was out visiting her sister.
Mr King told the court this afternoon how police arrived at their home about 6.30pm on June 13 and Mr King went with police to make a statement.
Later Kahui told him he wanted to "end everyone's hurt" and hand himself in, he said.
On the second occasion Mr King said he was "pretty angry" as he had just come from making a second statement to police.
"I called him into my room and asked him what happened to our boys," he said.
Mr King said Kahui replied "That's why I want to end everyone's hurt".
On the third occasion the two men were out on the balcony at the house when Kahui told him he "really wanted to go and hand myself in".
Mr King said he replied "by all means do it, if you did it, you should have done it in the first place but it's not going to make it go away".
Under cross-examination, Mr King said Kahui had never admitted he had hurt his sons and appeared upset and hurt each time he spoke about handing himself in.
Mr King said he told Kahui he could not hand himself in if he had done nothing wrong, that it would not fix anything.
Defence lawyer Lorraine Smith asked Mr King if he knew Macsyna King had said on several occasions that she was prepared to "take the rap" for what happened.
Mr King said he had been told that, but not by Ms King.
The hearing continues tomorrow
- NZPA
