Living in a house where a mother and child were viciously stabbed to death has proved challenging for the couple who now rent the Ngatai Rd home where Ravneet Sangha and her 2-year-old daughter Anna were killed.
On a sunny Tauranga day - the same day Deepak Nagpal confessed to murdering Mrs Sangha and Anna - the house where they died looks like any other in suburban Otumoetai.
The doors and windows are wide open, music plays in the lounge and couple Tareena Tawhara and Peter Harrison are relaxing on the deck with a woman who lives across the road - and prefers not to talk about the events of Queen's Birthday Weekend this year.
Desperate to get out of a cramped two-bedroom house the couple, along with Ms Tawhara's 14-year-old son Rikki, moved into the Ngatai Rd house about five weeks ago - but say they were initially not told about its gruesome history.
"When we first came here, it felt really good," said Ms Tawhara.
They were given a tour by the current tenant who mentioned nothing. Nor did the property manager.
Instead they learnt the tragic story from the taxi driver who drove Mr Harrison to the property.
"I caught a taxi here and the taxi driver told me what happened," he said.
Mr Harrison then confronted the property manager who told the couple the story.
Since then they have gleaned more details through talking to neighbours - including rear neighbour Graeme Allen - who spoke to both Mrs Sangha and Nagpal days before the murders.
"(He) seemed a sort of friendly type of guy, bit of a recluse I think," he said.
Mr Allen was at home in his workshop when the murders took place just metres away from him, but he heard nothing.
For Ms Tawhara and Mr Harrison the main concern upon moving in was whether the house had been blessed by a kaumatua.
Now aware it has, they are keen to have it done again - while it is their home.
"People think we're crazy for living here," Ms Tawhara said.
Ornate crosses hang outside ranch sliders at the front and back of the three-bedroom home and Rikki has hung a large cloth cross on the wall in his bedroom.
"I'm quite spiritual so I've got certain things in certain places," Ms Tawhara said.
The laundry where the murders occurred is tucked at the back of the carpeted single garage where Mr Allen said his neighbours used to do traditional Indian cooking, often sharing it with him.
It looks like any other in a suburban New Zealand home but for many in the Tauranga community it never will be.
"We feel pretty freaked 'cause some people just stop and stare in," Ms Tawhara said.
Ms Tawhara has trouble sleeping when alone in the house, which she describes as deathly quiet at times.
"It's going to take pretty gutsy people to live here I guess. I shut certain doors at certain times of night. Some people we know won't even come here. I've lost baby-sitting jobs," she said.
Prior to learning exactly where in the house the murders took place Rikki was sleeping in the garage which is open to the laundry. Finding it too dark he said the room "felt pretty weird" and had already moved to a bedroom when media reports this week revealed the full story.
"When I'm walking around by myself, when no one's awake, it's creepy."
The family has heard just the odd spooky noise here and there.
"Other wise it's dead quiet," Ms Tawhara said.
A keen gardener, Ms Tawhara has planted a vegetable garden on the property and has plans for more flowers as a chance for "a bit of life to grow" at the property.
The couple have signed a year-long lease.
Meanwhile, an elderly couple who live nearby heard the news of the murders when a police officer knocked on their door.
"I knew it was something serious because there was tape around it (the Sangha's house)," said the woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
While it was scary, the elderly couple said they were comforted by the fact the murderer, who boarded with the Sangha's was known to his victims.
"I think it would be different if an outsider did it.
"If it was somebody off the street that did it I wouldn't be here now," the woman said.
The man was aware the first tenants had left the house.
"It gave the first lot the creeps, they moved out." he said.
Deepak Nagpal, 24, pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court to two counts of murder on Wednesday. He will appear in the High Court at Rotorua for sentencing on February 18.
