Will David Mercer

Kelvin Mercer died in the burns unit of Auckland's Middlemore Hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning. The bodies of his estranged wife, 34-year-old Wendy Mercer and six month old son Will Mercer were found in their burning house on Thursday night. A postmortem found Ms Mercer had died from multiple stab wounds and her son from a single stab wound. It was revealed that the night before he attacked his family then set fire to himself, Kelvin Mercer went to Dunedin hospital's mental health department seeking treatment for a drug problem. His former wife had told him he had to stop using marijuana if he was to continue having access to their three children. The separated couples five and three-year old girls were discharged from hospital on Saturday into the care of their mother’s parents. Both are recovering from knife wounds to the throat Source: 4theKids.

The front door was slightly ajar and smoke was coming from the roof as police arrived. As officers called to the occupants inside, the door swung back and closed. They had to force their way into the home in Ettrick St, Dunedin. Inside they found a man, partially on fire and making groaning noises, near the door. The hall was thick with black smoke and the carpet around him was on fire. Police removed the man from the house, and then tried to put out the fire. Further up the hall, they found the severely burnt body of Wendy Mercer. Smoke and a lack of light prevented a further search of the house. Firefighters arrived to fight the blaze. One of those firefighters told police he had found the body of an infant lying in a white wooden cot. That six-month old baby was Wendy's son, Will. A report from a detective at the scene said the fully-clothed baby was found with a large open wound across his throat. A coroner's report later found he died of a single slash-type wound to his neck. Police were called to the address about 7.10am on May 20, 2004, the same time a security guard was sent to the property following the activation of a duress alarm. That alarm was triggered after Wendy's estranged husband, Kelvin Mercer, 32, came into her bedroom while she was on the phone. Minutes earlier, he had snuck into the house by using a ladder to gain access through a bathroom window. He was armed with a boning knife and a tin of petrol. Wendy screamed, "what are you doing here, get out, get out", before her phone call cut off. She was able to activate a duress alarm, but died of stab wounds to her neck and chest. Her screams woke their two daughters, who received cuts to their necks. After killing his son with a single slash of his knife, Kelvin poured petrol over the floor of the hall and lounge, and Wendy's body. Kelvin then took his two injured daughters, aged five and three, to a neighbour before returning to the property to set it alight. After the blaze, Kelvin was transferred to Christchurch Hospital and then to Middlemore Hospital with serious burns. He did not regain consciousness and died two days later. Kelvin, who worked as a boner at a meat processing company, separated from Wendy in August 2003 several months before the birth of Will. On August 20, Wendy was granted a temporary protection order against her husband, on the grounds of psychological and physical abuse. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/81392832/faces-...