She kicked off 2024 by getting her driver’s licence and, by April, she started her own cleaning business.
“We were so proud of her,” her brother Dean Puhi says.
“She was finding herself and for the first time in a long time you could see her joy returning.”
Then, in August last year, the unthinkable happened.
Maxine was found dead inside her Tūrangi home – as was her partner.
It can now be revealed the deaths are being treated as a suspected murder-suicide. A non-publication order prevents RNZ from making public the name of Maxine’s partner.
Speaking for the first time, Maxine’s brother says her partner isolated, controlled and abused her.
“In the final act of violence he took her life.”
Maxine Puhi was a mother-of-two. Photo / Supplied
‘A childlike innocence’
Maxine Puhi showed her “strength and resilience” from a young age, Dean says.
She grew up apart from her two brothers and lived with her mother, who suffered from mental illness. Eventually, she had to live with her aunty and uncle.
Maxine was proud of her Māori heritage, and was fluent in te reo before she learned English.
“Maxine was the kind of person who lit up every room with her smile,” Dean says.
“[She] carried a childlike innocence, open-hearted, trusting and full of hope.”
When she was 19 she met her partner, then in his mid-30s. The couple had two children together.
Dean says Maxine worked “extremely hard” for her family.
“She poured every ounce of herself into building a better life for her two young children. She worked hard, dreamed big and never stopped trying to grow.”
The couple’s relationship was marred by years of “isolation, control and abuse”, Dean says.
“He slowly started revealing his true nature over time.
“He cut her off from her whānau, limiting visits and phone calls. As the years went by the calls got less. He would call us when he got drunk and abuse us. It became the norm. Maxine hid a lot from us out of fear and embarrassment, but we knew what was going on to some degree.”
RNZ has obtained court documents in relation to an incident in 2018 involving Maxine and her partner.
At the time the couple had been together five years and Maxine was the only person with a fulltime job earning wages.
The documents say the couple got into a “heated argument” in the master bedroom. This progressed into the kitchen where, during a scuffle, Maxine hit her head on the kitchen bench counter, causing an injury to the side of her head.
She then jumped out the window and ran to a neighbour’s house who called Healthline, who then called police.
When spoken to by police, the partner admitted they got into an argument and said he was tired as he had just finished community work that day and did not want to break up with Maxine. He admitted it was his fault.
Maxine Puhi lit up every room with her smile, her brother says. Photo / Supplied
‘I couldn’t save mum’
Dean spoke to his sister in June 2024. She’d just looked after her other brother’s newborn for the night and was telling him how much she’d enjoyed having him stay and introducing the baby to her own children.
It was the last time the pair would talk.
Two months later, Dean received a call to say his sister was dead. Instantly, he suspected her partner was responsible.
“We knew it was him,” he says.
“He took her life violently, so brutally that her casket couldn’t be open … Maxine never had a chance.”
According to court documents, on the evening of August 14 last year, police received a call to say Maxine was being beaten up by her partner.
Police were told Maxine’s partner had video-called his mother asking her to pick up the couple’s children. He reportedly said he had done something bad and appeared to have facial injuries. Maxine could be heard screaming in the background.
The partner later called 111 and said there had been a double homicide and asked police to come to his home before giving the phone to his son and telling him to go to his room and close the door.
Police arrived at the couple’s home just after 10pm and found the couple dead.
Dean vividly recalls his nephew telling him: “I couldn’t save mum.”
“Her children carry that trauma with them, something no child should have to bear.
“We felt the grief hit heavy and dark, the rage, guilt was endless, we just felt so powerless. I don’t think this kind of pain will leave us.”
Maxine Puhi had started her own cleaning business months before her death. Photo / Supplied
Criminal past revealed
Shortly after Maxine’s death, Dean and his wife Tenniel and other relatives returned to her home to collect some of her belongings.
While they were there, they discovered a sheet of paper with all of her partner’s criminal convictions, including sexual offending.
Dean says the family knew he had been in trouble with the law before, including aggravated burglary and assault, but were not aware of any other offending.
“We were extremely appalled.”
RNZ obtained several parole reports for Maxine’s partner, who was jailed for five years and three months in 2008 for sexual connection with a 14-year-old girl, assault with intent to rob and burglary.
A psychological report before his release deemed he remained at “high risk of further sexual offending”.
He confirmed to the Parole Board that he had no difficulties with the eight special conditions of release set out in the parole assessment report.
Upon his release he was to remain subject to standard parole conditions for six months, including the special conditions.
‘We will never stop missing her’
Dean believes his sister didn’t leave her partner out of fear and also because of their two children.
“She just didn’t know how to leave, she felt trapped.”
Maxine’s partner’s mother declined to comment when approached by RNZ.
In June, a coroner’s court spokesperson confirmed to RNZ the coroner would be treating the case as a suspected murder-suicide.
The coroner then informed both families of their rights when it came to applying for non-publication orders. Neither family had applied for one in the 10 months prior.
The family of Maxine’s partner then submitted an application to prevent the media from publishing his name and Maxine’s.
Maxine’s family opposed the application. Tenniel and Dean wrote to the coroner and said suppressing Maxine’s name “silences her voice and minimises what had been done to her”.
“The Puhi whānau choose truth and transparency over silence and suppression.”
They said publishing what happened prevented “harmful and false narratives”.
RNZ also opposed the orders prohibiting the publishing of Maxine and her partner’s names.
Maxine Puhi’s family hope telling her story will help others reach out for help. Photo / Supplied
In a decision, released to RNZ on Friday, Coroner Donna Llewell said it would be “futile” to order a non-publication of Maxine’s name given it had been published previously.
“I also acknowledge the strong submissions from the Puhi whānau that they want her story and name in the public arena.”
However, she granted a non-publication order in respect of her partner’s name. The order is interim, and would continue until the conclusion of her inquiry which would be between 18-24 months.
Tenniel says it’s “frustrating” that Maxine’s partner’s name cannot be published for now.
“We know her story isn’t his. It’s hers and nothing can change the truth. Maxine’s whānau will never erase who Maxine was. She will always be remembered. Hopefully telling her story can help others to reach out for help even if it’s hard it can save your life.”
The whānau have spent a lot of time over the past year examining Maxine and her partner’s relationship, searching for answers, Tenniel says.
“Could I have done more, checked in on her more, picked up on the red flags more. All you want is to protect those you love and, in our case, we were powerless to what was going on.”
She said he hit Maxine on several occasions.
“We think he felt like he was losing his control over her. She was flourishing, started her own business, got her driver’s licence, doing more for herself. Growing her new business. He brought nothing to the table. She was financially supporting the household. All this would have affected his ego. We believe he was a narcissist that had to have the last say.”
She recalls seeing her husband and other whānau after they saw Maxine in her casket.
“They were motionless, some needed air, nobody had words. I just remember being held tight by my husband. All he said in my ear was ‘it’s bad don’t go in’.
“I can’t imagine what she went through, the pain, the fear, the disbelief that somebody she loved could be doing this to her. She would have been thinking of her children, if they would be safe. It chokes us up to think of her pain and her last moments were in fear fighting for her life.”
She believes there are a lot of women “suffering in silence”.
“If women experience any form of abuse the first time, believe what you see. Really see that man for who he is and ultimately know that you can’t change him and that’s okay, it’s not your job to.
“Know your worth, have a plan and leave before the manipulation sets in and you’re repeating the cycle all over again.”
The family remained in “absolute devastation”, Dean says.
“We struggle every day to accept it.
“We are so furious at [him] and so angry he stole her youth and now in his final act he took her life. He is an absolute coward.
“Maxine gave him two beautiful kids, stood by him and protected him and financially provided for the household.”
Maxine was a “beautiful, trusting soul”, he says.
“She was a mother, a sister, niece, a cousin and friend. She didn’t deserve her life to be cut short.”
Following Maxine’s death, Tenniel wrote a tribute to her sister-in-law. It ended with a clear message.
“Maxine deserved so much more: more years, more love, more laughter. Her children deserved their mum. We will never stop missing her. Her light was stolen too soon, but we will keep it alive by telling her story and speaking the truth. We Love you, Maxine. You will never be forgotten.”