‘I did it, I did it to the kids’
The murders of Te Hau and Ngamata O’carroll in 2004 should never be forgotten, writes
The O’carroll children were curled up under a blanket on the couch watching a video when he came for them.
Te Hau was 10, and his sister, Ngamata, almost 3.
Bronson O’carroll, their father, was clutching a kitchen knife and stabbed each of them in the heart. He then harmed himself, dying while paramedics tried to save him.
Death would have come quickly for the children, Detective Sergeant Kevin Anstis said. But no-one saw it coming. The community was stunned, and in the aftermath family, friends and neighbours spoke to media, police and the coroner of a loving father and mother, and happy children who were frequently seen playing in the driveway.
‘‘[Te Hau and Ngamata] were both really well thought of and spoken of by their teachers, and fellow pupils,’’ Anstis said.
The children’s mother told police and the coroner the relationship was not violent.
O’carroll had been a good father, and there were no signs of any mental health problems.
Of her evidence, the only thing noted by the coroner as a ‘‘possible indicator’’ of what would happen were brief tantrums O’carroll sometimes had when losing computer games.
‘‘There were times when he would suddenly ... throw things, shout at the top of his voice, throw chairs through walls, [throw] books, CDS, or whatever was handy.’’
She noted he never hurt her or the children, and would always apologise afterwards.
Along with another family member of O’carroll’s, she noted he ’’hated’’ suicide, and the people who did it.
Investigations by police and the coroner both concluded there was nothing to indicate any previous violence, abuse, mental health problems, or hard drug issues.
‘‘There are sometimes signals that aren’t obvious,’’ Anstis said.
‘‘But there wasn’t anything in the buildup to it, and even the family were really surprised.’’
Bronson and the children’s mother had separated in January, but were on good terms, he said.
She had dropped the children off to stay with their father earlier in the week, with no concerns.
Normally there are signs that things aren’t right.
It is those signs or first incidents that police hope families will act on, before a ‘‘worst-case scenario’’ like this happens, Anstis said.
In this case, the earliest warning was an alarming call Bronson made about 5pm on February 2, to his brother who lived 40 kilometres away.
‘‘I did it, I did it to the kids,’’ he said.
Then he told his brother he was going to kill himself, and hung up.
His brother immediately contacted a friend in Otaki Beach, and sent him to the Marine Pde house.
When he entered the house the children were already dead and Bronson was seriously wounded.
The man who found the family described finding the blinds closed, the floors covered in blood.
He came across Bronson O’carroll first, lying in a bloodsoaked T-shirt still wielding the knife he had used.
His friend managed to get the knife from O’carroll, who pleaded with him ‘‘let me die, let me die’’.
Emergency services were called and O’carroll was brought onto the front lawn where the ambulance officers had space to work on him.
But it was too late, and he died at the house.
In his findings, Coroner Philip Comber made a special note to the children’s mother.
‘‘There was nothing to indicate to her or to others who had seen him at about that time ... that anything of the nature of what happened could have been expected,’’ he wrote.
‘‘There was nothing she should reproach herself for in terms of these deaths.
‘‘Why it happened is obscure and will forever remain so.’’
The most likely scenario was that: ‘‘O’carroll became distressed and for some reason hysterical, and in his hysteria killed his two children and then turned the knife upon himself.’’
In the evening after the deaths, a large group of family and friends stood together outside the cordons crying and keeping vigil.
In Shannon and Porirua each family gathered to share their grief and love for Ngamata, Te Hau and Bronson.
The children lay at Pouto Pa in Shannon, then were taken to their mother’s Cook Island family in Porirua, where they were buried at Whenua Tapu cemetery.
‘‘They saw the tragedy of it. It’s a bloody tragedy,’’ Anstis said.
He stressed help from police and other support agencies can be found if there is a chance of intervention earlier on in family violence cases.
‘‘Nowadays there’s so much help out there for people.
‘‘For the sake of their kids, partner, they need to put their hands up and let people help them.
‘‘For us it’s about doing as much as possible to stop something like that happening ... and sometimes the services can help them as a family.’’