A tribute has been paid to an Auckland man who was "mercilessly" killed on his birthday last week.
It comes as a 26-year-old man appeared in the Auckland District Court on murder charges today over the alleged killings of Fuk Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong. He is the second person to be charged with murdering the married couple.
A homicide investigation was opened after Kwok, 66, was found dead by a family member at their Ellerslie property on Monday evening.
His wife Mei Han Chong was days later found dead in Greenhithe, about 30kms away.
He was granted name suppression in court today. (Source: 1News)
A colleague of Kwok today said he was an "excellent theatre nurse" who was supposed to work one last shift before going on holiday.
"It was his birthday at the turn of midnight leading into Sunday, the day he was mercilessly and helplessly killed," the friend said.
"He was supposed to be on annual leave after working one more afternoon shift with us that Sunday. We were planning to sing him happy birthday when he arrived, but he never came. We called him on his phone but he wasn't answering. We waited a couple hours more but no Uncle Joseph. He never not turned up for any shift without phoning work with a reason. That's when we started worrying that something bad might have happened.
"He was set to have a long holiday after his birthday and last shift to be with his family. He was an excellent theatre nurse who worked hard all his life, and freely shared with us his knowledge and expertise. He loved educating us so that we could be good in what we do.
"He was, undoubtedly in our minds, an upstanding citizen who helped save people's lives on a daily basis."
The person said there is a fear that others working as nurses who arrived in New Zealand from overseas could be at risk.
"I am still grieving, in shock, in disbelief, and very fearful that most of us overseas nurses come to NZ to help save lives here, and have better lives here, can have something like this happen to us at any given moment, because others with bad intentions have no fear of entering other people's houses and killing just because.
"They aren't scared enough of the consequences. Justice for Joseph Kwok RN and his family."
A 42-year-old man is also facing two murder charges and appeared in court yesterday.
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