KEY POINTS:
The widow of murdered Good Samaritan Austin Hemmings says she would "love" to meet the woman her husband died trying to protect.
Speaking to the Herald on Sunday at her family home in Auckland yesterday, Jenny Hemmings said the meeting would help the woman, whose name is suppressed, stop grieving for someone she doesn't know.
"I think it would be nice for her to meet me. We didn't even know her name. And she will know Austin more by meeting my family and talking to me - we would love that."
Flanked by the couple's three children - Meghann, 19, Jenny, 17, and Gareth, 16 - the devout Christian said her pain was "horrendous" and it was too early to start thinking about forgiving her husband's killer.
"I can only forgive this man with the help of God because unless you have God in your life it is very difficult to forgive other people.
"God teaches us to forgive and when I am not so emotional, because I am concentrating on saying goodbye to Austin, I will go there, but I can't go there yet."
She said she would urge the killer to look into his heart, find goodness in his heart and try to change his life.
"By changing your life you can change New Zealand. Austin was into praying for New Zealand."
The 44-year-old was repeatedly stabbed after going to the aid of a woman who was screaming for help in downtown Auckland on Thursday evening.
Jenny said she had wondered whether he would still be alive if hadn't stopped to help.
"I feel anger sometimes that he didn't stop and think who he was approaching and I would get cross sometimes.
"He nearly did it another time. He nearly went to rescue these people who were in trouble [in the water] and I said, 'no Austin, there's a surfie down there, go and get him'.
"So I have had him longer than perhaps I might have had him for."
Jenny said Austin always thought of others before himself.
"He lived by those values and he would always go to someone's aid. That was his first instinct. If Austin had his way he would give everything away but he needed to support us. He was very kind, he got that from his mother and father."
The couple met when Austin "zoomed" into the carpark of the Matamata Baptist Church for a youth group.
"I had just heard his father preach a couple of weeks [earlier] and wondered whether he had any sons because he seemed like such a down-to-earth guy," said Jenny. "Austin was also very good looking and it just all fell into place from that moment onwards."
She said she had "25 lovely years" with the New Zealand Insurance Auckland branch manager, who she described as a "wonderful, wonderful man. Austin had a great sense of humour, he told wonderful jokes, he was a normal man.
"If he was at a party he would have a couple of glasses of wine and be the life of the party. He was quick-witted, lots of repartee, very entertaining.
"He often would just come home to be with the family because we were the most important thing to him in the world. He balanced his family life with business.
"He was busy with his work but he gave us just as much time.
"He was a very successful businessman in his own right but he loved us dearly."
Austin's funeral will be held in the family's home suburb of Devonport on Wednesday.
Jenny said her brother would lead a "very untraditional service".
"There will be a lot of people standing up to talk about Austin. There will be a lot of poignant moments from people's hearts which will be touching and that's what I want. I want them to say how wonderful he was in order to help us grieve and say goodbye."
Jenny said the family would stay in the home they recently moved into.
"Austin bought it for me because I am allergic to a lot of things so this house was perfect with the wooden floorboards.
"He had to work really hard to buy this house. It was love at first sight. It was a bit out of our price range but we loved it."
Meghann said she would miss her dad's wisdom "and just sitting down and talking with him about things - he was such a good father".
She said she wanted to thank everyone who had prayed for the family. "We can really feel it. There is grief but there is so much peace and hope."
