Editorial: Reaction to Kahui book not a surprise

THE impending release of Breaking Silence: The Kahui Case has been met with publicity money can't buy - yet it remains to be seen whether the book will be bought by the public.
Twins Chris and Cru Kahui died in Auckland's Starship Hospital in 2006 after suffering head injuries. Two years later, their father, Chris Kahui, was acquitted of their murder.
The case was one of the more controversial in recent times, partly because no one was held accountable for the death of the twins, and partly because of the wider Kahui family's refusal to co-operate with police investigations in the lead-up to charges being laid.
News that the twins' mother, Macsyna King, is to tell her side of the story in Breaking Silence has been met with outrage this week, with The Warehouse and Paper Plus already choosing not to stock the book, supposedly in response to customer feedback.
It's rather startling, then, that veteran journalist Ian Wishart, who wrote the book, claims to have been surprised at the level of public outrage provoked by the announcement of its impending publication. If he is truly surprised, then he is naive in the extreme.
As always, the devil is in the detail.
The brutal death of the twins was a tragedy but so, too, was the 2008 murder of Otago University student Sophie Elliott by Clayton Weatherston.
There's been no outcry against the recent publication of a book about Miss Elliott, but then, that book was written by Miss Elliott's mother, and Weatherston has long been publicly vilified as a monster.
Ms King must understand that, rightly or wrongly, she is not well liked by the bulk of the New Zealand public.
A cloud of suspicion hangs over Ms King, despite the fact she has always maintained she had no involvement in the death of her twins, and that charges were never laid against her.
Mr Wishart's claims that Ms King will not receive any royalties from the book have done little to quell the tide of public outrage.
Nevertheless, booksellers have every right to make their own decision over whether to stock Breaking Silence.
In the case of The Warehouse and Paper Plus, the two organisations have clearly decided to sacrifice what likely would have been significant sales in order to curry favour with their customer base.
It's a commercial decision, as was the decision Mr Wishart made when he decided to write and publish the book.
Ms King had every right to shop her story around and hope that she could find an author and publisher to get involved.
Her story will now be told but you have to wonder how many people are prepared to listen.
Feedback: editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz