NZ murder victim family's despair

The man charged with the murders has appeared in court (Photo: Herald On Sunday)

The Welsh family of a man stabbed to death in a double murder in New Zealand say they are "devastated" by the killing.

David Roberts, 43, who was originally from Caernarfon, Gwynedd, was found dead in Auckland on Saturday.

He had been working as a manager of an apartment block in the city.

A report in the New Zealand Herald newspaper said the two men had multiple stab wounds. A 30-year-old Iraqi man has been charged with two murders.

Mr Roberts' niece, Tanya Lewis, who lives in Caernarfon, said: "I can't believe somebody would do something like this to him. You don't think it's ever going to happen to you. It's devastating.

David Roberts was managing an apartment block in Auckland (Photo: Daily Post)

"The only thing we know is they have confirmed that David is one of the men who has been killed by stab wounds.

"We don't know much because of the time difference of 13 hours. It's hard to get the information we would like to have."

Ronald Morgan, his brother-in-law, said: "If it was an accident probably we might have been able to come to terms with it a lot easier. But to find out it was a murder, that was the worst thing that could happen to anybody and especially involved with a knife.

"You hear so many things in the country about people being killed with knives and things like that and you never think about it happening to your own family."

Police had been called on Saturday morning and found two bodies in a ground floor flat in the 14-storey Alpha Apartments in the heart of the city.

Residents were evacuated while police dealt with a stand-off and eventually arrested a man.

A spokeswoman for New Zealand police said an Iraqi man, Baseem Ridha Kadhim Abbad Almery, had been charged with double murder and aggravated burglary.

Mr Almery, 30, has appeared before Auckland District Court and was remanded in custody. He will appear before the court again on 18 August.