Maurice said the cousins had been out net fishing that day with another relative, who managed to swim safely back to shore.<\/p>\n
Maurice said the survivor had told him he was \u201cabsolutely buggered\u201d when he made it to the beach, falling over because he had \u201cno energy\u201d.<\/p>\n
When he looked back out to sea, he could see Joseph face down in the water. He could not see Johnathan.<\/p>\n
The service for Joseph was held in a home he was always \u201cin and out of\u201d – the home of his late grandmother, a woman who Maurice said \u201creally loved him\u201d.<\/p>\n
To her, Joseph was a \u201crough diamond\u201d. To 72-year-old Maurice, his son was a \u201chappy-go-lucky guy\u201d and \u201cgood as gold\u201d, with a \u201cgreat smile\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Changed his life around\u2019<\/p>\n
Joseph \u201cdidn\u2019t like being inside\u201d and was \u201calways on the go\u201d.<\/p>\n
Maurice, who was newly based in Kawerau, previously lived in Mount Maunganui, where Joseph was raised, attending Omanu School before going on to \u014ct\u016bmoetai College.<\/p>\n
He said Joseph had some difficult years when he was younger, including being sent to prison \u201ca couple of times\u201d, but was working hard to turn his life around.<\/p>\n
Before Joseph\u2019s death, he was studying to become a social worker at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology\u2019s Windermere campus in Tauranga.<\/p>\n
Maurice said he once asked Joseph why he wanted to pursue social work. Joseph told him he hated \u201dseeing kids getting hurt\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Joseph](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/XXX4CMVLRZDZJPKO23DRQEHLVQ.jpg\")
\nJoseph Webster was a happy-go-lucky guy with a great smile, his father said.<\/p>\n
Joseph had four children, aged 22, 16, 11 and 7, and two sisters.<\/p>\n
Chelsea Webster, 17, said her brother \u201creally flipped the script\u201d when deciding to become a social worker and was someone who always wanted to help others. She said he had about two years left of his course.<\/p>\n
Before his studies, Joseph spent several years driving trucks for freight and furniture-removal companies.<\/p>\n
She wanted people to remember him as someone who \u201cchanged his life around\u201d. She knew him as someone who was \u201calways\u201d there for her.<\/p>\n
Joseph loved kids, she said, and would regularly bring her lollies when she was growing up.<\/p>\n
Joseph and Chelsea were \u201clike glue together\u201d, Maurice said.<\/p>\n
He said Joseph often visited his cousin Johnathan, who also died in the Northland tragedy.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/VHH4AWSTGNZA3IKN33VA6GT3JQ.jpg\")
\nThe men were found unresponsive in the water at Ripir\u014d Beach, pictured.<\/p>\n
Maurice described Johnathan as \u201ca bit of a rebel\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said Joseph\u2019s love of family was especially clear over the Christmas period.<\/p>\n
Just weeks before his death, he cooked a big Christmas dinner for relatives at his grandmother\u2019s home, preparing the meal for everyone to share.<\/p>\n
Joseph was a \u201cgood cook\u201d and insisted he would do it all.<\/p>\n
Maurice said he was someone who never hesitated to lend a hand, whether it was helping him move house, working on cars, or simply showing up when someone needed him.<\/p>\n
He \u201cnever harmed anybody\u201d and was the kind of person people gravitated toward, Maurice said.<\/p>\n
For those who knew him, Joseph was not defined by his mistakes, but by the man he was becoming: a devoted father, a caring son and brother, a loyal cousin, and a young man determined to protect others.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a good boy,\u201d Maurice said.<\/p>\n
Police said inquiries into the matter were continuing and the men\u2019s deaths had been referred to the coroner.<\/p>\n