Martin Weekes told media his wife Jane had given birth to a girl named Poppy and boy named Parker by caesarean section on Wednesday morning in Auckland.
The parents of New Zealand triplets who died in a fire in the Villaggio Mall late in May 2012 yesterday announced that they have had baby twins, AFP reports.
A few days before they had sent an email to the parents of some other children who perished in the May 28 blaze, saying that they were expecting twins and would be very busy, The Peninsula has learned.
Jane and Martin Weekes lost their toddlers Lillie, Jackson and Willsher in the blaze at Doha’s Villaggio Mall, that killed 19 people, including 13 children, who were at an illegal childcare centre.
Martin said the twins — girl Poppy and boy Parker — were born by caesarean section on Wednesday morning in Auckland, where the couple set up home after the tragedy.
He said the mother and babies, who were born at 36 weeks, were in good health. “It’s definitely a relief that they’ve been born healthy and safely because it’s always a worry,” he told the Dominion Post. “I guess probably more so for us because of having lost Lillie, Jackson and Willsher.”
The twins were conceived through IVF following the death of the two-year-old triplets, though Martin said that there was nothing that could “fill the void” left by the children who were killed.
“The twins are just another addition to our family,” he said. “The sad thing is that Lillie, Jackson and Willsher weren’t there to greet them.”
A Qatari preliminary court last June sentenced five people to six years in jail for negligence over the blaze, which broke out next to the unlicensed Gympanzee nursery and was blamed on an electrical fault.
A Doha-based parent of another child who perished in the devastating inferno said that he and other parents got an email from the Weekes family roughly a week ago that they were expecting twins.
“They said in the mail they were going to be very busy due to the expected new arrivals in their family,” said the parent, asking not to be identified.
“We are in regular touch with the Weekes family through emails. “When they send an email to us, it is addressed to all of us. Likewise, when we reply or send a mail to them, we copy it to all other parents.”
Martin and Jane, according to the parent, left for home (New Zealand) a little after the Villaggio Mall tragedy after they were handed the bodies of their triplets. Martin may be in his 50s, the parent said. Contacted, the lawyer for the Weekes family in the Villaggio fire case refused to comment, saying he was barred by law to speak to the media.
Source:The Peninsula
