Casefile True Crime - Case 16: Chris & Cru Kahui

Episode Date: April 23, 2016

Chris and Cru Kahui were twins, aged just three months old when they died in hospital, both suffering from traumatic brain injury. Their death was the result o a severe impact, either from direct blows or being hit, thrown or slammed against a hard surface. Violent shaking was another possible cause, and couldn’t be ruled out. What was clear was that the twins' injuries weren’t accidental… For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-16-chris-and-cru-kahui

Chris and Kuru Kahui were twins, ages three months old when they died in hospital, both suffering from traumatic brain injury. Their death was a result of severe impact, either from direct blows or being hit, thrown or slammed against a hard surface. Violent shaking was another possible cause and couldn't be ruled out. What was clear was that the twins' injuries weren't accidental. Their death was a result of somebody using deliberate force against them. It was determined the injuries were most likely inflicted at the same time by the same person.

The twins had been murdered. So who was responsible? Christopher Kahui and Kuru Kahui were born at the National Women's Hospital Auckland, New Zealand on the 20th of March 2006. The twins were later transferred to Middlemore Hospital. Their mother was Maxina King, 29 years old, and their father was Chris Kahui, 21 years old. They had one other child together already, Shane Kahui, who was 13 months of age at the

time. Chris and Maxina's relationship was informal and brief, but it had led to the birth of three children in just over a year. Albeit, the twins' birth was unplanned, unexpected and unwanted. Both Chris and Maxina were raised in abusive households, filled with alcohol-filled violence. Maxina's mother left after being badly beaten by Maxina's father one night. She went to hospital and never returned to the house. This left Maxina and her siblings to be raised by her violent, abusive father.

Maxina ran away from the home to escape the abuse. She was taken in by a foster family and eventually placed back into her mother's care. Her mother abandoned her for a second time, dropping her off at a relative's house one day and never returning. Maxina was both a victim of and a witness to physical violence as she was growing up, from the people who were supposed to care for her and protect her. Chris Kahui was raised in a very similar household. The adults in his life were alcoholics, more worried about partying and drinking than providing

adequate care for Chris. Chris and his siblings could go days without proper food, but the adults rarely went without booze. Chris also copped his fair share of beatings from his parents as he was growing up. It was a rough, tough, abusive and violent upbringing for both of them. The twins Chris and Crew Kahui were born eight weeks prematurely. Despite their premature birth, the twins' condition was actually pretty good. Still, they had to be kept in hospital for monitoring to make sure everything was okay

before being discharged. They were kept in hospital for around seven weeks until the 7th of May. The nursing notes kept in the first 30 days after the twins' birth showed that the parents, Maxina and Chris, only visited the hospital 11 of those first 30 days. And many of those visits were only brief. When they did visit, hospital staff would encourage them to engage with the twins, doing things such as changing nappies and assisting with feeding. But according to their notes, Maxina and Chris didn't show a lot of interest.

Hospital staff were concerned by this and they eventually reported these concerns. On the 4th of May, a social worker visited Maxina at the hospital. Maxina gave her reasons for their lack of visits as being they were moving house and were trying to care for Shane, so they had little time. Plus, they didn't have a family car. She said she knew the twins had the best possible care in the hospital, so she wasn't overly concerned. After this visit, Maxina stayed with the twins for three nights under hospital staff supervision.

She demonstrated a good ability to deal with nappy changes and feeding. Staff were actually pretty impressed by what they saw, and they allowed the twins to be discharged from hospital on the 7th of May. The twins were taken home to 22 Courtney Crescent Mungeray East. Also living there with Maxina and Chris was their other son Shane, as well as Stuart King, who is Maxina's brother, and his partner, Mona Kahui, who is Chris's sister. They were in a relationship together as well and had a baby daughter who also lived with them.

So, the four adults and four children all lived together in a three bedroom house. At least seven follow-up visits were conducted by healthcare staff upon the twins' discharge from hospital. The reports from those visits were all positive. The twins were flourishing, and it was obvious they were being well cared for. They were well fed, putting on natural healthy weight, and were all around looking very well. Maxina was seen to interact well with the twins, constantly picking them up, cuddling and kissing them, etc.

Both parents were open during the visits and were not evasive at all. The initial concerns about their lack of interest at the hospital were erased. There was no reason for concern or for suspicion. On the 18th of May, 2006, Chris Kahui's mother was admitted to hospital. She was placed in intensive care, suffering pneumonia. Chris Kahui was very concerned about his mother's health and spent considerable time with her in the hospital, often staying overnight. At 1pm on Saturday, June 11th, 2006, Maxina and Chris had a disagreement, resulting in

Maxina saying she needed time out. She took their son's shame with her and left the house, leaving Chris to care for the twins. Chris wasn't happy and told Maxina to stay at home, but she left and went to her sister's house where she spent the afternoon. After leaving her sister's house, she went to Chris's father's house, William Kahui, who was also known as Banjo. She actually fell asleep there. Chris was angry that Maxina hadn't returned home.

But later that night, Chris went out looking for her and found her at his father's house. He told her to get up and get her ass home. He said he was stressed and tired and struggling to make the twins bottles and feed them on his own. He said he needed Maxina's help. Maxina refused to return home. She told him to get his ass home so he could look after the twins, who at this time were being cared for by Mona and Stuart.

Maxina refused to return home and Chris had little choice but to leave without her. Maxina ended up taking Shane to hospital that night as she was concerned about her illness he had. He was checked out by a doctor and there was no major concerns. They were able to leave a few hours later. Maxina didn't return home to 22 Courtney Crescent until about 10.30am on Sunday the 12th of June, but she wasn't home for long. About midday Maxina said she was leaving again and going to spend the night with her sister.

Chris didn't want her to go, accusing her that she was going there to party and to get drunk. An argument followed and Maxina told Chris to go and get fucked before walking out. This time she didn't take Shane, so Chris was looking after all three kids. The evidence suggests that the twins were healthy and normal when Maxina left the house. Shortly after Maxina left, Chris's father, Bianja Cahui and Chris's cousin April Saunders and her husband Shane Saunders visited. April Saunders said that when she arrived both twins were in their cots.

You could hear one of them was awake. She went in to check on them and saw that Crue was the one awake. Crue was making a hungry cry and there was a half finished bottle next to his cot. Chris mentioned that he had been feeding Crue and he most likely wanted to finish the bottle. April picked Crue up and fed him. She said everything was normal. He took the bottle normally, he looked well, he looked healthy, there were no injuries on him at all.

She finished the bottle and went straight back to sleep. Baby Chris remained asleep, having already been fed. April and Shane Saunders left about 2pm and when they left there were no problems at all. About 7pm that night, Chris dropped his sister Mona and her baby daughter off at the hospital to visit their mum. He says he was gone for about 20 minutes. Stuart King was at home mourning the kids and he says Chris was gone for about 10 or 15 minutes.

About 8.25pm Mona returned home with her daughter and father Banjo Kahui. Mona's intentions were to drop off her baby daughter and return to the hospital to spend the night with her mum. Almost immediately there was an argument between Banjo and Chris. Banjo had a go at him about Maxina and asked why she wasn't there. Chris told him to shut up, it wasn't his relationship. Mona got involved as well. It turned into a bit of a heated argument that got Chris worked up.

About 8.40pm they all went outside for a smoke. Chris was angry that he couldn't go with Mona back to the hospital to see their mum because he had to stay at home and look after the kids. He was also still agitated over the argument he had just had. After the smoke Chris walked back inside. He went into the twins bedroom. He was alone in their room for a period of time. Just how long this period of time is depends on who was telling the story.

Mona says it was 10 minutes that Chris was alone in the room. Chris agreed with that at one point but later changed his story and said it was more like 3 minutes. But regardless the evidence is clear he was in the room by himself for at least 3 minutes possibly longer. The next part of the story is also unclear and we will probably never know exactly what happened. Again it depends on whose story you listen to but even then Chris has changed his story

multiple times already. But what is clear is that at some point Mona walked into the room with Chris and the twins. She says she picked up crew to give him a cuddle before she left to go back to the hospital. She said Chris's face was pale, his lips were purple and his eyes were rolling back in his head. Chris didn't appear too worried. He said he gets like that when he is tired. But Mona realised crew wasn't breathing.

She ran to get her partner Stuart. Stuart ran into the room until cold of crew. He says the crew's lips were dark purple and they were getting darker and darker. He also says his body was flimsy and limp. He said crew wasn't breathing for what seemed like 5 to 10 minutes. He was just lifeless. Then suddenly crew started to breathe in short bursts like he was trying to suck in the air. He was making a queasy sound.

Every time he opened his eyes they would roll back and his hands were shaking. Stuart thought crew was dead at one stage. It was a very serious incident. Again depending on who is telling the story and what version of the story they are telling, crew may have been given CPR by Chris. Well Chris may have gone to attempt CPR but crew started breathing before he had to perform. Either way crew started to breathe again and in Chris's words he had come good. Still given the serious nature of what had occurred you would think seeking medical attention

would be the next step. But it wasn't. They didn't take crew to hospital and they didn't call an ambulance. B&J, Mona and Stuart were all of the opinion crew should be checked out. But Chris didn't want medical help. He said nah he's breathing again. He should be fine now. He refused to take them to hospital and refused an ambulance.

Instead he instructed B&J and Mona to go out and look for Maxina. He just wanted her home. B&J and Mona did what Chris asked. They left the house to try and find Maxina but they couldn't find her. B&J dropped Mona at the hospital so she could be with her mum and then he returned to 22 Courtney Crescent. He looked after Shane while Chris slept the night in the twins room to make sure they kept breathing.

So by doing that Chris did show he had concerns. The next morning Tuesday the 13th of June 2006 Chris woke up and checked on the twins. He noticed a bruise on baby Chris's face. He left home about 9am. The twins and Shane stayed at home with Stuart. Maxina arrived home about 9.35am. Chris was still out. She spoke to Stuart who told her about the incident the night before with crew.

But she says he didn't express exactly how serious it was. Maxina went to the twins room to check on them. Both were asleep and both were breathing. Chris arrived home shortly after. She confronted him and said, what the fuck was happening while I was gone away? How the hell did our boy get that new bruise on his face? What the hell happened? Chris' response to her was that he left the door of the twins room open and Shane had

crawled in the room and some of them got to the twins causing the bruise. Maxina started yelling at Chris and his response was that Maxina should have been at home taking care of the kids. Now remember Maxina said to Chris how the hell did our boy get that new bruise on his face? That's because there had recently been another bruise on his face and when she confronted Chris about that first bruise a few days earlier, he gave the exact same story he had just given to the fresh bruise.

That he left the door open and Shane crawled in and caused it. Maxina says that she saw two full bottles ready to go. But Chris told her the twins weren't hungry and didn't want their feed. She thought the twins were just asleep. Without looking back, she realises they were most likely unconscious. Maxina says she didn't immediately realise how serious their condition was or how badly they had been hurt. The incident with crew the night before wasn't properly explained to her.

She was of the opinion that crew momentarily stopped breathing then started breathing straight away. She says there was no mention to her of him turning purple or CPR or not breathing for several minutes. And definitely no mention from anyone that they thought crew was dead at one point. Maxina suggested taking the twins to their GP, Dr. Naya, to get checked out. Chris agreed and they got in the car to head to Dr. Naya's. But first they stopped at McDonald's for lunch.

Again, keep in mind Maxina says she didn't realise how serious the situation was at this point. And Chris wasn't exactly forthcoming with information to her. They arrived at the doctors about 1pm. Chris described the incident the night before where crew stopped breathing. But he failed to mention that neither twin had been fed or was waiting for food since that time. Straight away Dr. Naya could see the twins were neurologically unwell.

He actually asked Chris and Maxina if the babies had been dropped on their heads. He immediately telephoned in a referral to Middlemore Hospital. He told Chris and Maxina that the twins had to be taken to the hospital straight away. Dr. Naya says that Chris and Maxina seemed to understand his instruction and the serious nature of the twins condition. They were very sick and needed to be seen at the hospital immediately. So Chris and Maxina jumped in their car with the twins. But Chris decided he didn't want to go to hospital.

He drove straight past the turn off. For some reason Maxina asked him to stop at the shop so she could buy nappies and other baby supplies. He stopped and she got what she needed. They returned home sometime before 2pm. When they got home Chris was amped up, agitated and angry. Maxina was swearing and yelling at him saying that he needed to go to hospital with her. But Chris didn't want to go to hospital.

He decided it was all too much and he left the house to go for a walk. Here is Maxina's account of what happened. Like I said when we drove back from the doctors, he didn't want to go to the hospital. I stopped at a countdown. We got back to Courtney Krez and I said wait here with the car with the twins. I went back inside the house and came back out and he was gone and I was pissed off. I started running around and getting things and I rang his sister Tracy and I said to her Tracy I need your help she goes what's the matter and I went I need you to ring

Chris and get his ass back here and she goes well what do you want me to make up to? What am I going to do and I went I just I lost it and I went you can you know how you're always bossing around you can get on the phone and tell him to get his ass back here and help me to get the boys to the hospital and I started crying on the phone and she goes what the fuck is happening and I went I don't know Tracy we just asked the doctors he said get to the hospital and she goes why don't you go to the hospital and I went because I wanted to well because Chris didn't want to come and because I wanted to grab the other stuff she goes well you should have just not bothered and just who cares what he wanted

you should have just yeah pretty hard to make that the driver what am I going to do turn the wheel for him he drove from the top this and she she was like oh please man if you could ever help me this is how you can help me now ring your brother and make sure you get it done I'm not gonna go through all of this on my own he helped me now you help me these are our kids and you're part of it so you do something so hang up on her and she did she did try and get a hold of Chris but I heard that she actually drove over and went to go and find him she arrived at the house um took the shirt and he said yeah now Chris just pissed off met said that she had to go to the to the hospital because her and Chris went to

the doctors but then Chris took off and left the baby so she explained it to Tracy and Tracy went off and looked for Chris Maxina did take the twins up at the hospital without Chris arriving there about 2 37 p.m when tree arched the bruise on baby Chris's face was noticed and Maxina could only give the story that she had been told that their other son Shane had caused it the twins were given category three status the most serious is category one so despite having a phone referral from a doctor saying the twins were suffering neurological damage the hospital still only gave category three status which is usually around a 30 minute wait the twins were eventually seen by another nurse who noted fresh bruising on both twins faces it was also discovered

that baby Chris had a broken leg and both twins had fractured ribs and they were both suffering traumatic brain injuries Chris and crew eventually started fitting and compulsive about 3 40 p.m Maxina called her brother Stuart's phone by now Chris had returned home from his walk and he and Stuart were playing a game on the Sony PlayStation Maxina asked to speak to Chris Chris took the phone and said whatever and hung up in relation to this call Stuart said well it was his turn on the game so he played again Chris was more interested in the Sony PlayStation than what was happening up at the hospital with these twins Maxina made numerous more telephone calls to Stuart her sister and to Chris's sister

to try and get someone to get through his head how serious the situation was and to get him up to the hospital but Chris was going nowhere near the hospital by now hospital staff had started making accusations at Maxina it was apparent the injuries to the twins had been done by somebody they accused her of child abuse Maxina started freaking out she freely admits her behavior at the hospital was an ideal but she said she was panicked and didn't know what to do she had no idea what was going on Chris had said Shane got into the room and caused a bruise on the twins face now she was being told about fractured ribs a broken leg brain damage and being accused of child abuse meanwhile Chris was still playing the PlayStation the twins were transferred to

Starship Hospital by ambulance shortly after 6 p.m Chris finally made an appearance at the hospital about 10 p.m it was at this time Maxina says she first heard about crew not breathing for minutes his lips turning blue and CPR B&J said he performed CPR Chris said he performed CPR Stuart said he didn't see anyone perform CPR B&J later admitted lying to protect Chris in case something went wrong and that he didn't perform CPR at all their stories were a mess the injuries to the twins were so bad that nothing could be done to save them little crew died at 4.55 a.m on the 18th of June and little Chris died at 6.45 p.m later that same day Chris was shown to have older injuries as well fractured ribs that were in the process of healing

as well as these older fractures he had fresh fractures of the ribs he also had a broken leg his cause of death was traumatic brain injury crew also had older root fractures that were in the process of healing his cause of death traumatic brain injury experts were of the view that the twins brain injuries had been caused by severe impact rapid acceleration and the acceleration of the head either from direct blows or being hit or thrown or slammed against the hard surface it's also possible violent shaking was the cause of death that couldn't be ruled out

the prosecution experts were of the view that the injuries must have occurred after their last normal feed there is no way the twins would have been able to feed normally after receiving these injuries so that's where the evidence of April Saunders is important she fed crew shortly after lunchtime on the afternoon of the 12th of June crew took his bottle normally and went back to sleep showing the injuries could not have been there at that time they had to have occurred after April Saunders and her husband left 22 Courtney Crescent which was about 2 p.m that afternoon the effects of the twins injuries would have been immediate and obvious with either an alteration

to that level of consciousness or a complete loss of consciousness and they would have continued to remain abnormal from that point on their injuries were devastating and extensive a police investigation was already underway before the twins had died they interviewed everyone who had anything to do with the twins many people were interviewed more than once giving multiple statements Chris Cahouie was one of those who was interviewed by police on three separate occasions it was important to learn exactly when the twins last fed normally to try and narrow down the time their injuries occurred

Chris Cahouie was interviewed on the 13th of June before the twins had passed away again on the 21st of June three days after their death and then again on the 3rd of October in his three police interviews Chris gave similar versions saying pretty much the same thing he says he definitely fed the twins after April fed crew and therefore after Maxina had already left the house in his first interview he said he fed the twins again around five or six o'clock that night and then again around 11 o'clock he even said that they fed again the next morning around 6 a.m he gave a similar account in his next two interviews so in the three interviews one conducted before and two conducted soon after the twins death Chris said he had last fed the twins

the police investigation was exhaustive and lasted four months they concluded only one person could have been responsible for the twins death their father Chris Cahouie was charged with their murder in late October Chris was released on bail whilst the waiting trial he was given strict conditions not to consume alcohol and not to bury young children under 12 years of age as it turns out those conditions were too strict he was arrested for breaching the conditions and was to be kept in jail until his trial that is until the father of the Cahouie twins is one of the first people to take advantage of amendments to the bail act which came into force yesterday Cahouie was sent to

jail six weeks ago for breaching his bail conditions by drinking beer and being in the presence of children under 12 but the new laws mean that those sorts of breaches will no longer mean a person is automatically taken into custody clear robbie reports family members arrived at court to show their support for Chris Cahouie the 22 year old spent the last 42 days in solitary confinement but new bail laws introduced yesterday mean he won't be there for much longer under the bail amendment act there now has to be not just a risk but a real and substantial risk of the offender absconding interfering with witnesses or reoffending it's aimed at getting prison numbers down Cahouie's risk was deemed moderate you've got to look at the fact that he has no previous

offending and certainly nothing of a violent nature but bail came with tough conditions again he's not to drink alcohol or be in the presence of children under 12 without an adult next year he'll be back in court to face charges of killing his twin three month old sons Chris and crew so he breaks the conditions of staying away from children under 12 and drinking alcohol but he was released with the same bail conditions as well as a number of other conditions he was freed until his trial during the police investigation and even after chris had been charged a trial by media had already started singling out mainly one person the twins mother Maxina she wore the brunt of the

media and in turn the public's fury and outrage she was turned into a monster quickly becoming New Zealand's most hated woman now she wasn't an innocent angel by any stretch but the fact she was the one targeted was interesting after all she wasn't the one that had been charged Chris's trial commenced on the 14th of April 2008 and ran for about six weeks Chris's defense team had one main strategy in mind well the lawyer for the man accused of murdering his twin sons is blaming the fatal injuries on the baby's mother 23 year old Chris Kahui is on trial at the High Court in Auckland over the deaths of the three month old twins who died from severe brain damage in June of 2006 yesterday

both the Crown and Defense opened their cases joy Reed was there and she joins us now firstly what are the defense saying in this this case joy well they only had a chance to make a very brief opening statement and in that Mr Kahui's lawyer Lorraine Smith told the court that her client didn't kill the twins now she says there's no direct evidence or any one witness proving that Chris Kahui is the killer and she's blaming the deaths on Mr Kahui's ex-girlfriend who's Maxina King who has been described in court as outspoken and verbally abusive the defense cases and let me put it bluntly that most probably the mother Maxina King inflicted the injuries and you will hear that Maxina King told a witness months after Chris Kahui was charged

that she did it and Chris didn't now Lorraine Smith is planning to call that witness to the stand but also some internationally respected medical experts one a pathologist and another a pediatrician who she says will tell the court that it's impossible to tell with any accuracy when the twins were injured and that would indicate that the injuries could have been inflicted when Maxina King was in fact at home which miss Smith says effectively contradicts the main medical evidence of the crown so is the crown case as outlined yesterday pretty reliant on the issue of timing in terms of establishing Chris Kahui's guilt yes very very much so in its opening yesterday crown lawyer Simon Morse made it very very clear that Chris Kahui is the only person who can be at fault for his

baby son's death and that is due to timing now they say that the twins mother Maxina King was not at home when the babies could have been fatally hurt and that Chris Kahui was the only one who had the chance to harm them because he was alone with the twins for about three to ten minutes and immediately after that Chris's sister Mona Kahui noticed that baby crew had in fact stopped breathing and as she stooped to pick this baby up she noticed that his lips had gone purple his eyes were rolling back and he seemed to have stopped breathing this is the first time that there is any evidence that the twins either of the twins had been injured and immediately prior to it used is in the room with them alone now the family never called an ambulance and after

the babies fell asleep they never woke up now and one of Chris Kahui's interviews with police he tried to say that his one-year-old son had in fact injured the babies but the crown also refutes that argument there's no way that the injuries to either twin let alone both could have been caused by accident it's simply impossible so whoever did it did it deliberately now the court heard that the babies suffered from massive brain injuries that they've been grasped so tightly around their chest that their ribs had popped and that they've been slammed against a hard surface the tiny bodies also bore evidence of other abuse but the jury was told that no medical treatment could have saved the babies from dying that clip and all future clips that will be played on this episode

a courtesy of New Zealand radio links will be provided in the show notes so you can check out all their clips and articles that cover the case now the part you just heard about Maxina allegedly confessing to a defence witness will be covered shortly to call that alleged confession unreliable he's probably been too kind Maxina was one of the first prosecution witnesses to give evidence the mother of the car to Kahui twins has told the court how she argued with her partner after coming home to find her babies critically injured Maxina King was giving evidence at the trial of the baby's father Chris Kahui who was charged with their murder the crown alleges that Mr Kahui fatally injured the twins when he was alone with them in the baby's nursery back in

June 2006 and reported Joy Reed has been at the high court in Auckland she's with us now Joy what else did Miss King have to say well she described the last time that she saw the babies before they were injured she said that when she left them they were good they were awake looks normal their eyes were following sound and they were in good condition but she never saw them that way again now she left the house for the night the crown says the fatal injuries were inflicted and when she came back the next morning she was told that her son crew had stopped breathing during the night and she rushed into the nursery yelling at Chris and said this to the court I asked them what was happening while I was gone in a way how the hell did our baby our boy get that new bruise on his face and

what the hell happened and what did he say about the bruise Chris told me that it was our son Shane that did that I asked him how the hell how did he do that and then and then he told me he left the door to the nursery open that Shane had crawled in crawled in got into the room climbed up on the couch and had run along on top of the couch then she said that Chris Kahui blamed her for the babies stopping breathing and said that she should have been there taking care of the kids that otherwise this wouldn't have happened now as you've heard the prosecution's position was that the twins didn't have their injuries when Maxina left their house that day they couldn't have because April fed crew after Maxina had left and there is no way crew would be able to feed with the injuries he later

sustained Chris himself said that he had fed them after April had left as well so the defense tried to exploit the brief window of time when Chris was dropping Manor at the hospital around 7 p.m. that night remember he said he was gone for 20 minutes stewart king said it was more like 10 to 15 minutes police actually later did a test drive of the journey and including a stop for petrol they were there and back in 17 minutes so it's in this window of time the defense argued that Maxina could have returned home and inflicted the injuries on the twins Maxina and the prosecution of course rejected these claims Maxina saying she wasn't even in Mangaree at all that night but a point of contention which should never have been a point of contention was cell phone

records obtained from Maxina's sister Emily who Maxina said she was with the entire night a seed of doubt was planted by Emily's cell phone records Maxina said she didn't return to Courtney Crescent that night in fact she said she didn't return to Mangaree at all that night but Emily's cell phone records show she received a call at 7 54 p.m. and the call went through the Mangaree cell phone tower so at first glance the cell phone records indicate Maxina might have been in Mangaree that night after all and she might have been lying what actually happened was that Maxina and Emily were driving along the southwestern motorway past Mangaree and that's when Emily got the call that's why the call pinged off the Mangaree cell phone tower

and there was evidence to back this up what the court heard was that had the call been received by Emily while her and Maxina were at 22 Courtney Crescent in Mangaree which is what the defence were saying then the call wouldn't have even pinged off the Mangaree tower it would have pinged off another tower altogether it's a little confusing i can see how at first glance people would think no she's lying the cell phone records show that she was in Mangaree but actually they weren't they were driving past on the motorway and the cell phone records back up their story i can see how people get slipped up by that it's logical to assume that if they were at 22 Courtney Crescent Mangaree then a cell phone call would ping off the Mangaree tower but it's just

one of those things that doesn't not to mention this particular call was received at 7 54 p.m Chris left for the hospital at 7 p.m and he said he was gone for 20 minutes so by his own evidence he was already back at home by 7 54 p.m and at 6 58 p.m which is around the time Chris left cell phone records place Emily and Maxina in a town 25 kilometers away which is around 15 miles so there's no way they could have got there in time while Chris was out so this theory using the cell phone records to support it is a stretch Chris's defense team went after Maxina hard and as i've said she certainly wasn't an angel she did have a criminal history for fraud and stealing and she had three children to two previous

partners that were no longer in her care chain had since been removed from her and Chris's care as well given what happened to the twins the previous injuries found on the twins were obviously used against her people were asking how could a loving mother not notice these previous injuries Maxina was pained as promiscuous a violent bully and as someone who didn't care about her children there were even question marks raised if Chris was the father of the twins again making out she was out sleeping around but a paternity test ended that debate Chris was definitely the father and then came out that after the twins funeral Maxina got blown drunk made a fool of herself and it was alleged she started hitting on a female guest at the funeral

and ended up kissing Chris's teenage brother the hospital staff testified to painting a bad picture of her behavior at the hospital when she was there with the twins which she freely admits probably didn't look great the media lapped it up Maxina was the main target she was being crucified Chris seemed to escape much of the media crucifixion they painted a picture of Maxina as always being out partying never around for her children and being a drug user she did admit to trying drugs but says it definitely wasn't a regular thing Chris himself said he didn't know Maxina to be a drug user and Chris's own sister Mona testified that Maxina never really went out much at all

then headline started surfacing saying Maxina had secretly admitted to a next boyfriend that she killed the twins and Chris had nothing to do with it this is the confession to the defense witness that you heard mentioned earlier apparently he had even tape recorded the admission only problem when it came time to produce the tape recording it didn't exist and her ex-boyfriend actually later testified he couldn't remember exactly what Maxina had said and he could have a mistaken he also admitted that he wasn't very good at telling the truth so he had zero credibility but it was just another piece used against Maxina in the defense's mission to make her

out to be the killer people read the headline and the article and think it must be true never mind that when you look into it it becomes apparent it was about as far from the truth as you could get the mother of the dead kahuwi twins will face a further grilling in the witness stand today as if the defense tries to paint her as the baby's killer Maxina King's giving evidence at the trial of the twins father Chris kahuwi who's accused of murdering the three-month-old babies in June of 2006 Maxina King will spend a third day in the witness box today reported Joy Reed is covering the trial the defense was unrelenting in its questioning of Maxina King

accusing her of being the twins killer put it to you that you returned home and you lost it that's not true i put it to you that you did something terrible to the twins i have never ever absolutely not harmed my sons defense lawyer Lorraine Smith said Maxina King had told her sisters that a woman with evil spirits had hurt the babies hinting at herself but Miss King says that was absolutely untrue she also denies the allegations that she had two opportunities to injure the babies either on the morning before they were admitted to hospital or while Chris was out the day she says she wasn't at home she also denies confessing to another boyfriend that she was the killer you said to him oh i don't know why i'd done what i did didn't you it's absolutely

not true he said to you done what man what are you on about didn't he no you said oh never mind and you also said Chris didn't do it didn't you that's absolutely not true Maxina King also denied trying to cover up historical bruises with makeup and heavy handling her other son who was just three months old at the time she also rejected claims that she tried to make the twins look cared for by washing the unconscious babies before taking them to hospital and that she threatened her brother with a bullet if he told police what happened the defense also tried to paint Miss King as a careless mother he had six children all together haven't you yes to a deceased Shane has been taken away from you by sips hasn't he Shane's been removed from the

yes the older three are from two previous relationships aren't they yes they are and you abandoned those three older children uh with their fathers didn't you i left them in the best possible care that was best for them at the time especially when she admitted to using the drunk pee the week before taking the babies to hospital you looked after the twins while you was still under the influence of methamphetamine didn't you yep Maxina King no longer has any contact with any of her four remaining children she told the court Chris Kahoe was a loving father who was always worried about handling the twins because they were so tiny her cross examination continues today in Auckland from warning report joy raid

many others were called to the standard testifier here is Stuart King testifying about the incident where crews stopped breathing it was a lips red like a dark purple they kept on getting darker and darker and darker and this his body was so so flimsy and so limp wasn't the teller was it normal how long wasn't he breathing for breathing for about five ten minutes oh now he was just blowing in my arms loathless and all importantly the jury got to hear from Chris Kahoe he didn't testify at his trial he had every right to remain silent and not testify but his police interviews were played to the court the jury and the trial of double murder accused Chris Kahoe has today been watching police videos

in which he describes how bruises started to sprout on his babies three month old twins Chris and crew Kahoe died of severe head injuries in June 2006 our reporter Joy Reed has been in the high court in Auckland watching the videos today she's with us now Joy what does Chris Kahoe say in this well there are about six hours of footage in total and so far the juries only watched about three hours of them but in the accused first interview with police which was only hours after the twins were admitted to hospital he's got his one-year-old son sitting there on his knee and it's in that interview that Chris Kahoe told the police officer that baby crew had stopped breathing during the night and that his lips went blue he was breathing on the lips and then I put

my head to his mouth and he wasn't breathing so I gave him like a bit of CPR and five breaths and one pump and he came right inside the breathing unit now Chris Kahoe said that was pretty freaky in his own words but that baby crew as I said did come right and it wasn't until about 10 the next the next morning that Chris Kahoe noticed any bruises on the boys and I sort of see some bruising on Chris's face and at the time you saw the bruising come up on Chris what did you think so by lunch time there were more bruises and later on as I say more bruises sprouted up on both those boys' faces and how did he explain the injuries well in a word he couldn't and he said at one stage though that his son Shane who was this one-year-old toddler might have gone in there and

quote whacked the twins but when asked if he actually saw Shane hit the twins he said that he hadn't he'd just seen him go into the twins room but that Shane had hit the boys before by accident and when police officer a detective Julie Ingram put to him that the injuries were so severe that there's no way Shane could have caused him he didn't have anything to say to that and then she said quote someone's gone in and beaten your boys who was that and Chris Kahoe said he didn't know now Detective Ingram asked him if he had got angry and he'd taken it out on the boys to which he replied I've never hit a kid before I've never hit my boys and I've never hit any child what did he say then about the twins and how they usually behaved well he said they spent most of the time

in the cot unless they were feeding and that was every six hours or so but he did say that baby Chris was often unsettled that he was the one that normally cried a lot more and he described the crying as grizzling now we know now that baby Chris was actually nursing a broken leg during that time and that broken leg was up to two weeks old before he was hospitalized with the fatal head injuries and what was Chris Kahoe's demeanor like in these videos he's very quietly spoken and on the whole seemed relatively calm at one stage though the police officer told him that his babies may not survive and asked him if he was concerned about this and he said that yes yes he's very scared he spent much of the first interview cuddling his one-year-old son Shane

and the rest of the video footage which is without his younger son will be played tomorrow thank you joy that's our reporter in Auckland joy read video evidence has continued today in the Kahoe case with footage showing Chris Kahoe denying he had fatally injured his twins in a fit of rage it's likely to be the only time the jury will hear directly from the accused whose charge was murdering his twin boys Chris and crew in June 2006 the video interview has today also revealed the accused admitted he wanted to hand himself into police because he felt he had nothing left to live for our reporter joy read has been in court watching that footage today she's with us now joy how else does he explain the

twins injuries in this final video interview well he doesn't really he repeatedly says that he doesn't know that or how his his boys were hurt and the detective interviewing him pushed him quite hard on this and during the interview he admitted that he was under a lot of pressure from the twins mother maxina king at the time that she was upset with him for spending so much time at the hospital with his sick mother instead of with her at home he admitted that he bottled things up that he was angry that maxina king had gone out for the night and then detective sergeant chris barry suggested to him that all these factors combined caused him to snap pressure with three kids mum's in hospital banjo's having to go with you there's no one else to take it how wrong

your frustration comes out in a moment where you lose control so what happened now he repeatedly denied similar accusations today in court on the video including those that he didn't call an ambulance when baby crew stopped breathing that night and he didn't go to the hospital when they were first admitted to intensive care and the policeman put it to him this was because he had caused the fatal injuries to which he said it wasn't true how then does he try to justify his statements about wanting to hand himself in well the court hurt that he told his dad and maxina king's brother stewart that he felt responsible for the

twins deaths because he'd failed to protect his sons and that now that they're dead he's got nothing left to live for and does he say anything about maxina king and her alleged involvement in the twins injuries well the defense claims that the baby's mother maxina king is the most likely a one to have killed the infants and in this final interview with the police chris carhoi suggests that yes she could be the one to have lost control and that she was the one to injure the twins before they went out for them before she went out for the night with her sister but he couldn't go into more details to back that up and couldn't go into any more details about why she could be to blame and the jury had some medical pictures of the twins other injuries

yesterday the court was able to see for the very first time the extent of the twins other injuries today and it was shown an x-ray of baby chris who had a broken leg and in this x-ray you could physically see that this bone had been snapped in half and the the medical expert said that the injury was less than seven to ten days old now baby chris also had a possible wrist wrist fracture and a head fracture and baby crew also had a head fracture thank you joy that's our reporter and Auckland joy read and the defense had their turn calling witnesses they called in their own expert to refute what the prosecution experts had to say and to drive home their other theory which was that if maxina hadn't returned home in that brief window of time chris was out on

the 12th of june then she must have injured the twins either before she left or the morning that she got home the key medical witness for the defense in the carhoi case has today disputed when the crown says the baby twins were fatally injured dr terrence donald gave evidence today as the last defense witness in the trial of chris carhoi who's accused of murdering his twin baby boys nearly two years ago the case is now winding up with the jury expected to go out later this week to consider its verdict our reporter joy read has been at the high court in Auckland today she's with us now joy firstly what did dr donald say about the timing of the twins injuries all the crown's cases that the infant's injuries can be narrowed down to just before baby crew stopped

breathing which was immediately after the accused spent time alone in their nursery but dr donald today he's a child abuse expert from australia says that it's it's too hard really to pinpoint when exactly these twins were injured now he says it is possible that they were hurt when the crown says they were but that it's more likely that the babies could have been injured in an earlier assault and that this breathing episode was more likely to be a seizure and a secondary reaction to the injuries it would also fit just as well with a baby who was developing secondary effects from something that had occurred sometime previously you couldn't argue one over the other now dr donald says that a person who was not their main carer

including the father if the father wasn't the main caregiver may not have been aware of anything wrong with them when they had their serious injuries so when does he think the babies were injured well dr donald made it pretty clear to the court today that it's hard to say and says that if the breathing breathing episode was a secondary reaction then it could have occurred up to six hours after the primary assault which is the primary injury now said that the only way really to accurately time when the babies were injured is to find out from an independent person when the twins were last interacting normally as this would mean that the injuries would have happened after this but he says in this case there's effectively no independent person and the only

real description that you get about about how the twins reacted earlier earlier before the crown says these injuries occurred is from the twins mother and he said that a carer is not usually classified as an independent you think it's possible to say when on monday the 12th of June 2006 the babies were injured that depends on how reliable their mother's account is if their mother's reliable account had happened after that if their mother's reliable account isn't reliable then it could have happened before that what else did he say about the twins injuries well he said today that their injuries were very serious and almost identical he also said that he believed that they would have been able to to do basic feeding but not vigorously suck but that differs

from the crown medical experts who say that the babies would not have been able to feed much at all after sustaining such serious head injuries now he also said that he was very surprised that no one realized how seriously ill these babies were until they were taken to the doctor and he said these babies would have been in and out of consciousness for many hours they would have been unable to wake and making abnormal noises and what criticism did he have about the autopsy well he says that a number of steps were missed out in this autopsy and such as examining the baby's eyes and that made it more difficult to try and determine how these twins were hurt now he's written a protocol for autopsies in Australia and said that this post-mortem would not have

met those standards and we are nearing the end of this yes we are dr donald was the last defense witness to be called so from tomorrow the crown will make its closing submissions and that's expected to take most of the day then the defense closing submissions will be on wednesday and the judge will probably sum up and send the jury out on thursday to consider its verdict thank you joy that's our reporter and Auckland joy read after all the evidence had been laid out in court it was time for the jury to decide the fate of Chris Kahui but they didn't need long in fact they reach a verdict in record time incredibly they came to their decision in just minutes some say it was only one minute but others say it was a few minutes more than that but the court had already adjourned

for lunch so it was over an hour before the actual verdict was read do you find the accused Christopher Sonny Kahui guilty or not guilty on count one of the murder of crew or mecca Kahui we find the accused not guilty do you find the accused Christopher Sonny Kahui guilty or not guilty on count two of the murder of Christopher Alecah Kahui we have found the accused not guilty the date of acquittal was the 22nd of may 2008 here is what Kahui's lawyer Michelle Wilkinson Smith had to say these interviews are courtesy of New Zealand radio she starts by talking about how quickly the jury reached their verdict well it was a very long trial and during the trial they've

obviously had time to discuss some of the issues that arise um so presumably there are a lot of things that already discussed and your response when they delivered that verdict uh hugely relieved and what about your client I think he felt much the same what's he doing now he went home with a family what did he say to you he said very little he could barely speak actually the verdict how do you think they reached that oh I've got no idea um we we thought that there was reasonable doubt in every possible area and presumably the jury agreed crucially it was the timing of the injuries yes and whether it could be excluded um basically whether Chris Kahui was the only person who could possibly have inflicted the injuries now of course that raises the question

of who did inflict the injuries yeah and I can't really I mean that's advanced inside the courtroom quite properly but I can't talk about that outside the courtroom but it was a crucial part of your case you pointed the finger at the mother yeah I think I mean the way the case was run was simply a response to the evidence that we had um but it's certainly not I can't outside the courtroom reasons I'm sure you're aware of um really talk about who might actually have done it so in that way there's no resolution here well I mean all the the only thing that the criminal justice system can do is work with evidence and unfortunately in some cases there is no absolute you know proof as to who has done something like this and that's very very sad but that's just the reality because

in the end you can only convict someone of this proof beyond reasonable doubt and if there isn't there's no justice in sending someone to prison for something they didn't do the criticism of the police prosecution in this are you suggesting that Chris Kahui should never have been charged I think the criticism that was levelled during the case was appropriate for the jury to hear about because it was a circumstantial case and it's a question of how confident that the jury could be that they were were fully praised of all the circumstances however the police always do their best within the I think within the evidence that they have and they present their case as they see it and then the crown presents the case as the crown sees it and the

system is supposed to have safeguards in it so the crown reviews the police case and there's a safeguard there but of course you know nobody is perfect and people do make mistakes that's the whole reason we have a justice system that also has defense counsel who then put the other side who have the ability to look at the evidence who can say look hang on that doesn't quite work and then we have the jury who in the end of the ultimate safeguard and I think this case really illustrates how well the system can work you know despite the fact it takes a long time and of all the criticism of the way criminal trials are run you know you're not going to get any more impartial people in the end than 12 ordinary people who do not watch cases all the time

or it could be a criticism of the way the police run investigations well do you think the police always to get it right I mean if you say the police must always get it right and they should never be a not guilty then basically what you're saying is we don't need a criminal justice system the police can get the rest of them and put them in prison our whole system assumes that the police will not always get it right well of course they won't and again unfortunately in this case the tragedy of these boys being killed we don't know the answer no we don't um and it is an absolute tragedy and you know I mean I've got three thoughts I've found it quite difficult some of the events in this case I think lots of people have it's very very sad and and you know

the verdict is great we've very relieved at the verdict but it never um takes away from the fact that there are um you know there's two babies who've died and again I have to point out the defence called the police investigation a disaster which is not merely making a mistake there were aspects of the police investigation that certainly the defence thought should have been done better well disaster was the word that was used in court yeah it wasn't I didn't use that word there I mean that's probably an issue for another forum you know we're the defence council we're looking at it from our point of view and our objective we are about whether it was a disaster or not it's not really for us to look at in the end we put that before the jury we don't know

how much the jury took from that but as you say it's taken a toll on you this case oh it's a long case I think it's I think everyone involved in it including the jury it's very I mean it's just sad you know you've got photos of all of the babies it's very very sad there's no two ways about it it's sad for Chris Kahui um sad for the whole family and you know whoever did this there's never really been a suggestion that this was a cold-blooded murder whoever did this absolutely snapped because they weren't coping and you know public calling up for vengeance is fine I understand it but go look at the systems that are in place and how much assistance there is and for people out there with little babies you know they don't die of crying just put them down and walk away

what would you say about the effect that this has had on on Chris Kahui it's really hard to tell he's grown up a lot in the course of the trial you know he was 21 when it started 23 now and they're quite important years um I think he's handled it with surprising dignity he's been a very easy client to deal with and I hope that he can move on from this and rebuild his life and I hope that the fact that he's recognizable everywhere isn't going to hold him back too much that's Michelle Wilkinson Smith the lawyer for Chris Kahui who's been acquitted of murdering his two baby sons here is what Detective Inspector John Timms had to say after the verdict I think it's important and I think the message needs to be made clear that everyone that was at Courtney

Crescent over that weekend was considered a person of interest and we thoroughly investigated each person until we identified Chris Kahui and then made the arrest there are no leads that we could follow up as I've said there is no evidence to support a charge against any other person and that includes the mother Maxina King I think we should all remember that the last two years has been about Chris and crew Kahui the twins and nobody else and that has not changed for the result today this has been a tough investigation a tough trial it's been a tough two years but what I would say is that with any child death

those involved with the witnesses or offenders are normally related to the dead child with this comes the problem that the family have loyalties to each other not always to the dead child so that was it from the police perspective all the evidence pointed to Chris Kahui nobody else but the jury acquitted him in record time there was nothing more they could do there was a newspaper article released shortly after the trial which was pretty concerning actually I'd say it's disturbing the article outlined that the trial was put at risk when a juror on the case was at the pub with his friends and told them several members of the jury had already said they didn't think Chris had killed his twins

this was said after the first days of what was a six-week trial so much for carefully considering all the evidence before coming to a decision word eventually got back to the prosecutors and judge about this but all that came of it was the judge warning the jury they had to consider all the evidence before reaching a verdict some law experts commented that it could have been grounds for a mistrial after being acquitted of murder Chris became the father of a baby girl to a different partner initially he was forced to live separate from his new partner and daughter but he was allowed to move in two years later in 2010

however even then he wasn't allowed to be alone with his daughter as of 2012 he still had to be supervised at all times with her child services were closely monitoring on the 4th of October 2010 a coronial inquest into the twins death commenced held before coroner Gary Evans Chris had the right to silence at his criminal trial but not so at the coronial inquest and by now Chris's stories had changed his version of what happened when crew stopped breathing was one of the parts of

his story that was now different at the inquest that changed a couple of times actually he first said he gave crew CPR and he came right he later said he went to perform CPR but he didn't have to because he came right and started breathing before he did anything but later still in the inquest he went back to his original CPR story again he testified that he was freaking out really afraid and thought crew was dying but instead of calling an ambulance and getting medical help he outlined how he sent his sister and his dad to find Maxina

he was asked by the coroner that if he had a puppy and stopped breathing would he call a vet Chris said yes he would when the coroner then asked why didn't you call an ambulance or take crew to the hospital when he stopped breathing Chris couldn't offer an explanation Chris also testified that he now realized how important it was to establish when the twins were last fed and appeared healthy he said looking back the twins didn't feed when they usually would have after Maxina left he said he doesn't think baby Chris cried or fed at all after Maxina left

but he couldn't say the same about crew as there was April's testimony she fed him but it was clear what he was trying to do make it seem like Maxina could have injured them before she left he now realized how important the timings were all right and he was changing the story but the three statements he gave to police were done one before and two soon after the twins death which was now four years ago in these statements he said that he had fed them numerous times after Maxina had left when asked the reason for his change in his story Chris's defense claimed he hadn't told the truth to the police because he was a simple boy and he didn't want the police to think he was a bad father by not having fed the twins that night

at all the coroner wasn't buying it and Chris himself conceded in cross-examination what he said in his police interviews four years earlier would have been his best recollection of what had occurred not now the coroner asked Chris about his time alone in the room with the twins just prior to when Cruz stopped breathing the coroner asked him what was he doing in there Chris replied I think I was picking up stuff off the ground the coroner said it wouldn't take three minutes to pick up stuff would it Chris said no the coroner said so what else were you doing Chris said I can't remember what I was doing in there the coroner found that Chris's behavior was consistent with trying to avoid medical authorities as he knew the twins were in a bad way he was scathing

he said the behavior of Chris Cahoui in turning his back on the pressing needs of his sons for medical attention straight away is incompatible with that of a normal father whose only concerns are his children's welfare this bugged telephone call recorded by police between Chris and his father Banjo doesn't paint a great picture Chris is recorded as saying see fuck if we never went into the hospital that time we went to the doctors fucking they probably never would have found out but Banjo said who Chris said the police when they ain't even you know if we never had checked up on anything and then we still probably you know if the boys you know the coroner also asked Chris about the period of time when Maxina first presented the twins to

the hospital when she tried repeatedly to call him and get him up there but he was too busy with the playstation the coroner asked was she worried about the twins health Chris said yes she was coroner and she wanted you to come to the hospital to be with her Chris yes coroner because you were the father Chris yes coroner well why did you not go Chris I did not really want to be walking up to the hospital coroner you did not really want to be walking up to the hospital Chris yes I would have rather her come to pick me up never mind the twins condition at the time and Maxina was up there freaking out

never mind there was another car that was in the driveway that he could have taken and never mind that the hospital actually wasn't that far away and was well within walking distance the coroner was satisfied that the injuries suffered by the twins that led to their death were non-accidental in nature the cause of death was the result of the application of force at the hands of another or others and that more than likely their injuries were inflicted at the same time by the same person he found that Chris Cahoui knew something was wrong when the twins ceased to cry out to be fed and he knew they were obviously unwell for reasons of his own he neglected to summon medical help they urgently needed he found cell phone records corroborated Maxina King's

story of her whereabouts on the night he found it implausible and in direct contradiction to a lot of other evidence that Maxina could have returned home and injured the twins in fact he said there wasn't a scaric of evidence to suggest that Maxina had anything to do with their injuries once all of the evidence had been presented at the coronal inquest everyone eagerly awaited the coroner's official ruling a coroner has found the violent deaths of the Cahoui twins happened while they were in the sole care of their father Chris Cahoui the three-month old twins Chris and crew died of head injuries in 2006 Chris Cahoui was found not guilty of killing the babies after a five-week criminal trial in the high court at Auckland in 2008

the coroner's inquest into the deaths of the twins began in October 2010 and were completed in June last year in a report published this morning the coroner Gary Evans says the twins died from brain injuries suffered while they were in the sole custody care and control of Chris Cahoui at their South Auckland home he says the twins were injured in the same manner at the same time and at the hands of the same person the coroner dismissed claims the twins could have been injured by their mother Maxina King or by her brother Stuart King well our reporter Sam Mora joins Sam the coroner here basically is establishing the facts of what happened that's right Simon the the coroner finds that both Chris and crew died in hospital on June the 18th 2006 now this was as

a result of injuries that happened when they were in the care of their father Chris Cahoui now the 77 page report says Chris Cahoui was resentful of the fact he'd been left by his partner Maxina King to care for the twins in fact it says that he was angered by her absence for the second night in a row the evening the injuries were inflicted on the babies that is June the 12th now the coroner says the twins were in every respect normal and well at 1 p.m on June the 12th but that there was no evidence that their father fed them that afternoon or evening or the next morning the report says he hid the fact the twins were not crying or eating and were unwell and the coroner says that keeping this from the twins mother and the others in the house is incompatible with the

behavior one would reasonably expect from a normal father who had nothing to hide concerning his children's condition now the report says that the fact the twins were not feeding was vitally important information which he kept to himself and it says after the time one of the twins crew stopped breathing Mr Cahoui resisted the views of other adults that an ambulance should be called or the twins should be taken to hospital fundamentally the coroner says had they been taken to hospital their lives might have been saved and of course we know the babies weren't taken to hospital until the following day so what is the evidence this finding is based on well the coroner gives a detailed account of what happened in June 2006 he outlines a list of things Mr Cahoui has said both

in court and during various interviews with the police and other authorities but he says there is no evidence to support these statements he points out that Chris Cahoui made a fundamental change to his evidence at the inquest into his son's deaths that is that the twins did not cry or feed again after midday on June the 12th and this contradicts the evidence given in his three earlier police statements that the twins had been fed by him again later that day now the coroner says it's likely the false account given by Mr Cahoui was to protect himself by representing that the twins remained well whilst in his hands and he says he found Chris Cahoui's evidence seriously conflicting in nature lacking in credibility and not to be relied upon and Sam what does the

coroner say about the earlier criminal proceedings Simon the coroner's court is only concerned with questions of fact questions relating to criminal responsibility have already been tried out and disposed of by the High Court but the question of how the twins came to meet their death is quite different to whether Mr Cahoui bears any responsibility in terms of the criminal's law for their deaths and of course he has been found to bear no such responsibility but the purpose of the coroner's report is to identify the causes and circumstances of the twins' death and again that finding is that the twins died from brain injury suffered while in the sole custody care and control of Chris Cahoui and as you mentioned earlier the coroner also dismisses the

claims the twins could have been killed by their mother Maxina King or her brother Stuart King the coroner says there is not a scaric of evidence that Maxina King was at home at the time of the injuries the time the injuries happened let alone that she had a motive to kill her own children and did so and likewise the coroner says there is not a scantilla of evidence to support the allegation that Stuart King hurt the twins and what response has there been to the coroner's findings from Chris Cahoui well Mr Cahoui and his legal representatives have declined to comment on the findings but they have issued a statement in which Mr Cahoui again denies any involvement in the twins' deaths and strongly rejects the coroner's findings and what about the police what

have they got to say the police have also declined to comment but they too have issued a statement in which they say they thoroughly investigated the deaths of the Cahoui twins and put all available evidence before the court for examination and judgment the police say they're still considering the evidence heard during the coroner's inquests and they will not be making any further comment until that analysis is completed thank you Sam that's our reporter Sam Morrow joining me in the studio now you're wondering given the result of the coronal inquest did the police lay fresh charges against Chris Cahoui well he's your answer the police in South Auckland say they will not be laying further charges over the deaths of the Cahoui twins the twins died in 2006 and a trial

in 2008 cleared their father Chris Cahoui of their murder but the police have been reviewing the evidence since a coroner's report in July this year said the babies died while in the sole care of their father the police have declined to be interviewed but Chris Cahoui's lawyer Lorraine Smith joins us now good morning good morning Simon what does this decision mean for your client it means the end of the um the the criminal trial process um Simon I'm not at all surprised at the decision that was released yesterday um Superintendent Tim said that following a review of the evidence that the coroner's inquest no further charges will be laid um I was in Israel during the inquest but I understand that no substantially different evidence from that given that the criminal trial

was advanced and the coroner's hearing um talk I understand about three weeks whereas the jury trial heard evidence over seven weeks it was presided over by a judge of the high court and um the jury included a medical doctor who was familiar with the issues of bleeding on bleeding on the brain I mean we had a smart jury and Lorraine Smith nevertheless the public has heard what the coroner's got to say surely there's a a cloud hanging over your client's head because of the coroner's view not at all in my view there is absolutely no comparison between a coroner's and inquiry in a high court jury trial uh and as I said I'm not at all surprised by this decision but the uh the jury as you mentioned the jury the jury decides on evidence put before it uh the

coroner coroner can take a broader view can't he he's not meeting the standard of a criminal standard of proof uh but well he heard exactly the same evidence he relitigated um the the the trial and while we're on that topic I have no doubt that our judges are going to be very concerned about relitigation of cases by the coroner um relitigation undermines the integrity of jury verdict he's doing his job isn't he pardon he's just doing his job I think he went down the wrong track frankly and if I'd been in New Zealand I would I would have um pointed this out to him um what what it means is that if the police aren't happy with a jury verdict they can have another go on the in the coroner's court um and and that's just not right and I think you'll find that the

judges especially in the high court are extremely concerned about this aspect but nevertheless Lorraine Smith many in the public might have read the the coroner's report and think your clients to be blunt still did it and many of them will have followed the jury trial which was seven weeks not three and come to the conclusion that the jury got it right the police do say the case remains open and if there is new information that comes to hand they'll look at it I mean would it be in your client's interest to try and find new information well how can he I mean he did his best um to you know to to tell the police everything that he knew both when he was interviewed over a period of many many hours um before the trial and when he gave evidence uh at the the

inquest um this is going to remain a cold case it's never going to go away until the person who killed the twins is found