{"id":458397,"date":"2026-06-03T06:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/458397\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:48:13","slug":"whanau-pay-tribute-to-hokianga-kuia-tarati-buckley-allegedly-murdered-in-far-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/458397\/","title":{"rendered":"Wh\u0101nau pay tribute to Hokianga kuia T\u0101rati Buckley, allegedly murdered in Far North"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">A 26-year-old man was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/northern-advocate\/news\/man-accused-of-womans-murder-appears-in-whangarei-district-court\/N6IX3A25EVB2VIMCE2KMH5CYAA\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/northern-advocate\/news\/man-accused-of-womans-murder-appears-in-whangarei-district-court\/N6IX3A25EVB2VIMCE2KMH5CYAA\/\">charged with her murder<\/a>, as well as arson, burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, using a credit card to obtain a pecuniary advantage, and failure to assist police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">Buckley\u2019s wh\u0101nau yesterday described in a post online their \u201cdeep shock and immense mamae [pain]\u201d at her death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe was taken from us far too soon, in circumstances that we are struggling to comprehend and accept,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">Buckley was a former principal at Te Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori o Hokianga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">Current principal Michelle Sarich also paid tribute, saying they worked side by side for 23 years and she would always be thankful for the time they had.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cStarted out as acquaintances, then mates, now wh\u0101nau, been beside each other through the best and the worst times of our lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">Sarich spoke of unanswered questions and a deep, aching pain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cLife has changed forever &#8230; how to embrace this new normal when all you want to do is relive the past?<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cYour imprint is etched in my soul for this life, in the next I will look for you again. Nothing will be the same without you Dot, how can it be?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">Detective Inspector Rhys Johnston said Buckley\u2019s family last heard from her on Sunday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWhat has taken place is simply a tragedy,\u201d Johnston said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">The man charged with Buckley\u2019s murder appeared in the Whang\u0101rei District Court yesterday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">He was granted interim name suppression and remanded in custody.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">He was due to appear in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei on June 19, where he was expected to enter a plea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">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":"A 26-year-old man was charged with her murder, as well as arson, burglary, theft of a motor vehicle,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7818,36598,40869,3026,528,42,30538,152210,78,60082,424,30858,43768,43,529,2682,2744,25817,61,40,38,41,39,232828,20838,30859],"class_list":["post-458397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-allegedly","tag-buckley","tag-dedicated","tag-especially","tag-far","tag-headlines","tag-helping","tag-hokianga","tag-in","tag-kuia","tag-life","tag-mokopuna","tag-murdered","tag-news","tag-north","tag-others","tag-pay","tag-tamariki","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trati","tag-tribute","tag-whnau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458397","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=458397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}