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Rebecca Somerville - Source: ONE News -
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Child Youth and Family say a decision to remove the three children from murder accused Jason Somerville and his wife may well have saved the children's lives.
Mr Somerville was charged last week with the murder of his wife , Rebecca. He was also charged with the murder of Tisha Lowry, who had lived near the couple, when he reappeared in the Christchurch District Court on Friday.
The bodies of the two women were found under his Wainoni house last week.
For the last three years his wife had tried desperately to get her children back, but Social Welfare says it is confident removing them was the right thing to do.
Friends told ONE News that the couple struggled to look after the children and needed help with the house work. Church groups in Taupo had tried to help them but it was not enough and by the time they shifted to Christchurch all three children had been taken away.
Checking online websites, ONE News found comments from Mrs Somerville showing just how much she missed her children and wanted them back.
She had written about her first Christmas without the children saying: "This year we have no children with us, we are not even going to see them. We have put up a tree and hung our three stockings up believing they will be returned to us in the new year."
However, the children were not returned to them.
A friend of Mrs Somerville's, Peter Burns, says she got very depressed over not having her children.
"She got very depressed when she found out the children wouldn't be relocated and it was a tough time for her but we supported her through it," he says.
The battle seemed to be taking its toll on Mrs Somerville as she wrote on websites that her confidence and self-esteem had been squashed and that under the pressure she cracked and tried to kill herself.
The children remained in foster homes in Taupo but Mrs Somerville always remained hopeful.
"It was a struggle for her but she hit rock bottom and she bounced back and all credit to her. She was good and they both attended AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and were supportive of each other," Burns says.
For months Mrs Somerville expressed her anger at Social Welfare, claiming she had been betrayed and that they were "cold hearted Nazis".
The fight to get the children back was on-going and those helping her say the signs were encouraging.
"It was just a sad situation and it was on the mend," says Burns.
Even though Mrs Somerville was critical of the way Child Youth and Family handled the situation, the agency released a statement on Friday afternoon saying they are confident they have done the right thing by the children.
CYF say they worked hard over a long period of time to strengthen the family so they could stay together, but when attempts to address the complex issues facing them failed they had no choice but to remove the children from their parents' care.
CYF say it is an extremely sad case as there are now three children without a mother.
