Waking to a nightmare
SHOOTING VICTIM’S GIRLFRIEND UNDER POLICE PROTECTION
The girlfriend of a man shot dead in a Hamilton home has woken in hospital, distraught at the heartbreaking reality she faces.
Not only did Kahlee Marfell’s boyfriend of five years die protecting her, but a childhood friend of theirs is critically ill in intensive care from gunshot wounds.
It was 1am when Kahlee and Robert Nelson ran to the bedroom to hide when the shooter began firing. Robert died as he shielded Kahlee.
It was only chance that the three were at the suburban Hamilton house that night.
Police said on Sunday that the house was ‘‘targeted’’, although the motive for the killing is unclear.
‘‘The light of my world has been snuffed out,’’ Kahlee told Robert’s sister, Erin Nelson, from her hospital bed yesterday.
She and the friend in critical condition are both under police guard at Waikato Hospital.
‘‘I’ve lost the love of my life and I don’t know how to cope. It’s going to be a team effort to move on,’’ Erin relayed to Stuff.
Kahlee’s condition is improving, Erin said, though she remains in a serious condition.
‘‘She’s really shaken – absolutely devastated, as you’d expect from what she has been through.’’
Robert, 23, is being remembered as a hero for protecting his 20-yearold girlfriend from the gunfire that ensued inside Kahlee Marfell’s family home in suburban Melville overnight on Saturday.
Robert and Kahlee met as teenagers and had been together around five years.
Erin, 22, was best friends with Kahlee for a time when the pair attended school in Fairfield.
Kahlee knew of Erin’s older brother and, after meeting at a party, formed a relationship.
‘‘They’d been through the best and the worst together – he always had her back and always loved her,’’ Erin said yesterday.
‘‘He’s a hero, and he’s always been that way – a protector – and did it to the end.’’
On Saturday evening, Robert knocked off work as a chef at Keystone bar at the southern end of Victoria St in Hamilton and went to see Kahlee.
He regularly stayed over at the brick house on a small crescent street of a dozen or so houses.
But earlier that evening, Erin said her mother, Dannette Vrijs, had tried to convince Robert and Kahlee to stay at their place.
‘‘They hadn’t seen him for a day or two,’’ Erin said of their parents. ‘‘They were supposed to stay at our house that night, but they ended up staying at Kahlee’s.’’
The 17-year-old man critically wounded was a childhood friend of Rob and Kahlee’s who, by chance, dropped by on Saturday night.
‘‘He would stay with Kahlee once in a while as they were mates, but hadn’t been round there in awhile.
‘‘He was sort of doing what Robert did, trying to protect Kahlee. ‘‘He’s in a pretty bad way.’’
All three got caught in the crossfire.
‘‘It was the wrong place for all of those guys.’’
Robert was Erin’s ‘‘guiding light’’. A family man with a cheeky smile, he never judged people. To him, they were all people, she said.
‘‘The hardest thing to realise is that he’s not here. We haven’t been able to see his body yet, so it’s hard to get some closure.
‘‘He was a real family man and always put his family first.’’
The eldest of three children, Robert grew up between Hamilton and Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia. He attended school in Forest Lake before going to Fraser High School.
He made a few mistakes in early life, but was turning his life around and training to be a chef, Erin said.
‘‘He just really liked everyone – and that just really pushed him through. He had friends in every corner, everywhere, and was a
‘‘He always had her back and always loved her. He’s a hero, and he’s always been that way – a protector – and did it to the end.’’
Erin Nelson of her brother’s devotion to his girlfriend
social butterfly.
‘‘He was trying to figure out what he wanted to do.’’
Robert’s father, Peter Nelson, said he was ‘‘proud of his son’’.
His mother Dannette said, ‘‘My son has gone, my life has left me. I don’t know how we will live on without him, but we will try and live for him.’’
The family had already had a tough year with the death of their grandfather, whom Robert was close to.
Erin said her brother had one dream – to own his own home.
He was also a talented Muay Thai fighter, but knowing he couldn’t make a living from it, he got a job with Erin with the Lawrenson Group.
Being a hard worker saw him move up the ranks quickly, working in the Keystone restaurant kitchen while he gained his chef qualifications.
And Lawrenson Group has become a family affair.
Along with Erin and Robert, their mother works at Victoria Street Bistro and younger brother Koenraad Nelson, 20, at Bluestone Steakhouse.
Erin couldn’t thank the Lawrenson Group enough for its support. Thousands of dollars have been raised through a Givealittle page set up by spokeswoman Aimee Lang.
‘‘The group really loves and cares for him, and have done so much for us,’’ Erin said. ‘‘It’s been a shock to the whole Lawrenson Group as a whole community.’’
It was understood the Matthews Cres home was connected to the Mongrel Mob.
Yesterday afternoon, the shooter remained at large.
An autopsy was taking place in Auckland yesterday and family expect Robert’s body to be released soon.