Slain Mother had Protection Order, Husband Facing Jail
The man who died at a Papatoetoe, Auckland, house after allegedly killing his wife and critically injuring their toddler was facing prison time for earlier family violence offending. And his wife’s bereft family have spoken, begging other women living with domestic violence to speak out, stand up and seek help. They say they never want to see another family face the heartache with which they have been struggling - which they say was totally preventable.
Sherine Nath, 32, and her husband Riki Nath, 34, were found dead in a house on Sunnyside Cres on December 30.
Police found Sherine inside the house with her son, who was critically injured.
The little boy, who cannot legally be named, is said to be slowly recovering at Starship Hospital.
It is understood the pair both had severe head injuries.
Riki Nath was found dead in the garage of the home a short time later.
The deaths have been referred to the Coroner.
The Herald can now reveal that Sherine had been granted a protection order against her husband of 14 years shortly before her violent death.
Nath was due to be sentenced in the Manukau District Court on January 23 for an earlier attack on his family.
Court documents provided to the Herald by the presiding judge outline the full facts of the case.
Nath pleaded guilty to one charge of injuring Sherine with intent to injure and another of threatening to injure their son.
He was facing a maximum period of three years in prison for the offending.
According to the police summary of facts, the attack took place on February 28 last year at the Sunnyside Cres home where they were both living.
About 8pm Nath became angry at Sherine because she had not told him where she went after work several days earlier.
Sherine was sitting on her bed with her son and Nath walked in and grabbed her by the roots of her hair, pulling her face close to his own.
He demanded she tell him where she had gone after work.
“The defendant held the victim’s hair tight and head butted her in the forehead once, causing her to stumble backwards,” police said. “The victim reached down and held her son on the bed in an attempt to protect him.”
Nath shut the bedroom door so the couple’s flatmate would not hear any noise.
He then ran at his wife and kicked her in the upper left side of her back.
“[Nath] threatened the victim that if she were to leave him, he would harm their son and himself,” the police summary said.
Sherine did not go to police immediately.
Her sister Sagrika Kumar told the Herald that she told her family about the attack in March.
“We took her to the doctors straight away as she had massive bruises on her back,” Kumar said.
“We then reported this to the police.”
Sherine moved home with her parents that day and a protection order was granted to keep Nath away from her and the child.
Kumar said her sister’s relationship with Nath was “up and down”.
But she only spoke about the domestic violence after the attack for which Nath was charged.
“We were all so worried for her,” said Kumar.
“She was loved by everyone.
“She had the most bubbliest, beautiful character and seeing her so upset and hurt broke us down even more and her happiness means a lot to us, all hence why we took action immediately.
“We definitely did not want her going back to him as domestic violence is not the way to go.
“We were also advised by police not to go back to Riki that day so Sherine and [her son] had both moved into our family home.” Kumar said her sister was relieved to be away from her violent husband.