{"id":305692,"date":"2026-02-28T00:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/305692\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T00:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:47:13","slug":"kaihu-dog-attack-mihiata-te-rores-brother-speaks-of-loveable-staunch-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/305692\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaih\u016b dog attack: Mihiata Te Rore\u2019s brother speaks of loveable, staunch sister"},"content":{"rendered":"

Munual was in Auckland at the time, his phoned turned off. When he later turned his phone on, he discovered a number of missed calls and texts which made his heart sink.<\/p>\n

He said a local police sergeant confirmed his sister had died. He hurried north to join Mihiata\u2019s children at Whang\u0101rei Hospital.<\/p>\n

Together they broke down<\/a>, he said. <\/p>\n

Munual said Mihiata – a mother of five, grandmother of six and great-grandmother of one – had loved her moko more than life itself. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was an aroha woman.\u201d <\/p>\n

She had moved home to Kaih\u016b about 20 years ago after living in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Mihiata, who Munual praised as intelligent, had researched their wh\u0101nau land in Kaih\u016b and had been determined to return. <\/p>\n

Munual followed his sister north around 2021. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really got to know her more over the last five years than I did my entire life, you know?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Munual described Mihiata as a loveable person and a straight shooter who \u201ccalled it as it was\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she thought that there was something not right, she\u2019d tell you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she met you for the first time, she\u2019d be very observant. She\u2019d observe you up and down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Munual said Mihiata was a staunch woman, and they sometimes butted heads. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen everyone else didn\u2019t believe her, when everyone else was against her, she stood up … she stood strong … she\u2019d never back down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mihiata never held a grudge either. <\/p>\n

Munual said he and his sister would visit each other about three times a week. They lived about 800m apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019d come over and see me if she hadn\u2019t heard from me … and if I haven\u2019t heard from her, I\u2019d go and see her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep expecting her to come over, but, you know, she\u2019s not any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mihiata was well-known and well-connected in the rural settlement, near Dargaville. She had her \u201cfinger on the pulse\u201d, Munual said.<\/p>\n

He shared how she would watch Kaipara District Council <\/a>meetings and that she knew all the local gossip.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing what she knew,\u201d Munual said.<\/p>\n

Before retiring, Mihiata worked as a substitute teacher at Kaih\u016b Valley School, Dargaville Intermediate School and Dargaville High School. <\/p>\n

Munual said she believed strongly in bettering children\u2019s education, especially in Kaih\u016b.<\/p>\n

Mihiata supported the local school, with a roll of about 15 primary pupils, right until her death.<\/p>\n

Kaih\u016b Valley School paid tribute to her last week, saying she had been lovely to its tamariki. <\/p>\n

Munual said many people were shocked by Mihiata\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

He was told by a person at her tangi, they could \u201cfeel the pain and the sadness\u201d as they approached the marae.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could feel the heavy heart that everyone had,\u201d Munual said.<\/p>\n

He described uncontrollable tears as he sat beside his sister\u2019s coffin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just couldn\u2019t stop weeping for 10 minutes, and I haven\u2019t wept like that since we lost our mother.\u201d <\/p>\n

But Mihiata\u2019s wish would be for people to keep going.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what she\u2019d want us to do,\u201d Munual said.<\/p>\n

The three dogs involved in the attack have been euthanised.<\/p>\n

Police are investigating Mihiata\u2019s death, and said on Friday there was no new public information. <\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Munual was in Auckland at the time, his phoned turned off. When he later turned his phone on,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[89,8843,31468,9219,2109,14322,305,1345,164179,3375,167188,167186,4754,160598,75287,30863,111,43,139,1067,69,1118,15407,167185,27886,17213,167187,8690,1361,9863],"class_list":{"0":"post-305692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-believed","10":"tag-brother","11":"tag-dog","12":"tag-family","13":"tag-grandmother","14":"tag-have","15":"tag-home","16":"tag-kaih","17":"tag-killed","18":"tag-lemons","19":"tag-loveable","20":"tag-members","21":"tag-mihiata","22":"tag-motion","23":"tag-muchloved","24":"tag-new-zealand","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-northland","28":"tag-nz","29":"tag-of","30":"tag-pick","31":"tag-rores","32":"tag-sister","33":"tag-speaks","34":"tag-staunch","35":"tag-te","36":"tag-that","37":"tag-visit"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}