“He went to med school and had high standards that he kept himself to.
“He was resilient and a fighter. It’s very tragic.”
He told the Herald he last saw his brother in person 11 years ago when he visited him at his hometown overseas.
He said they tried to make an effort to video call, particularly on special occasions.
“My brother was a very private person; he didn’t share much, so we were in the dark on any family matters, and we respected him for that.
“I think he didn’t want to upset anyone.”
He said the couple “seemed happy” on the brother’s last video call on May 30.
Police at the scene of the stabbing at a house on Seon Pl on Auckland’s North Shore. Photo / Jason Dorday
The couple was found dead in a home on Lingfield St in Glenfield.
A third person was found with injuries from a reported stabbing, 5km away at a property on Seon Pl in Birkdale, where the 41-year-old was arrested.
The man described his brother’s wife as a “loving and caring woman” who had fought her own battle earlier in life.
“She had cancer. That’s why there’s a big age gap between their sons, because she had to wait to have a natural, healthy birth again.”
He said the wife had always described New Zealand as a “safe place to live”.
“She was worried when they came to visit here with a high crime rate, but she said she always felt safe over in New Zealand,” the man said.
“She told me she could leave her house unlocked and just go to the beach.”
Acting Detective Inspector Megan Goldie said the “awful set of events” would leave “many in our community unsettled, but what I can say at this early stage of the investigation is that the offender and victims are all known to each other”.
The relative said he has offered his nephew, now left with minimal family in New Zealand, the opportunity to live with them in South Africa.
They said they had been “left in the dark”, unable to get much information from police or from the hospital where their nephew had been staying.