A 26-year-old local man has been charged with her murder as well as burgling her home and torching her car.<\/p>\n
Less than two weeks earlier a young man, whose name has yet to be formally released by police, died after an altercation in the isolated Wekaweka Valley.<\/p>\n
Police investigating his death are still describing it as unexplained.<\/p>\n
Michelle Sarich \u2013 the current tumuaki, or principal, of Te Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori o Hokianga \u2013 said the death of Wh\u0101ea T\u0101rati had an enormous impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess we always felt that we lived in a piece of paradise, and that paradise has been absolutely shattered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Hokianga tumuaki (principal) Michelle Sarich. Photo \/ RNZ, Peter de Graaf<\/p>\n
Now Sarich is leading a drive to bring Hokianga residents together and protect the vulnerable, while trying to loosen methamphetamine\u2019s grip on their community.<\/p>\n
Before Wh\u0101ea T\u0101rati\u2019s death, few Hokianga residents locked their doors, she said.<\/p>\n
Now they were not just locking up, they were installing cameras and security lights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with people that are living on their own, people who are very scared at the moment, and who are taking extra precautions in their own homes to make themselves feel safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those fears, and the deep hurt felt by many across the Hokianga, prompted Sarich to call a community meeting at the kura on July 1, one month to the day after Wh\u0101ea T\u0101rati\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Hundreds attended at short notice.<\/p>\n
Sarich said the aim of that first meeting was to give people a chance to come together, share their stories, and find a way forward.<\/p>\n
Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Hokianga at Koutu Point, South Hokianga. Photo \/ RNZ, Peter de Graaf<\/p>\n
Many people talked about things that had happened in their homes, or about their calls for police help going unanswered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt showed the historical hurt that even when we\u2019ve called out, there\u2019s been no net there to save us from what we needed saving from,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people had been waiting in their homes [for police] five or seven hours for something that might have been really, really serious, so we\u2019re just feeling really fragile, not quite sure where to turn to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarich said there was some anti-police sentiment at the meeting, but most people understood a few officers were responsible for a vast area.<\/p>\n
The nearest police station, in the town of R\u0101wene, had just two officers; the closest bigger station was in Kaikohe, a 40-minute drive away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand they can\u2019t always follow up. We understand there are other demands on their time. We wanted to come together, not to police bash, we\u2019re not here for that, but to see how we can work together in the future to make this space our paradise once again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decisions that came out of the meeting included establishing a hapori (community) network to help vulnerable people feel safer in their homes, and a Facebook page called Hokianga t\u016b mai (\u2018Hokianga stand together\u2019) to share information.<\/p>\n
Follow-up meetings would focus on concrete solutions such as setting up a phone tree to quickly mobilise help when it was needed, and possibly even issuing trespass notices en masse against drug dealers.<\/p>\n
While the full facts had yet to emerge, methamphetamine was thought to have played a part in both tragedies.<\/p>\n
A number of police attended the July 1 meeting, including Kaikohe-based Senior Sergeant Clem Armstrong, response manager for the Mid and Far North.<\/p>\n
He described the meeting as \u201cpositive, respectful and solutions focused\u201d, and offered advice on ways people could keep themselves safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were feelings of anxiety. There were feelings of being unsettled and unsafe. No one should have to feel unsafe in their own home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior Sergeant Clem Armstrong has challenged Hokianga residents to report meth dealers. Photo \/ RNZ, Peter de Graaf<\/p>\n
He also told the meeting the issues facing Hokianga were not unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a small rural community. As much as I would love to have 10 rural cops out in the Hokianga, that is not a reality at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong also issued a challenge to Hokianga residents who had so far kept quiet about drug dealing in their midst.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeth, that plague, is a big driver of crime. A lot of community members know who is doing what. And we simply can\u2019t read minds. What I told the community was, if there is something you know or see, report it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong said people should call 111 in an emergency or 105 to pass on information. They could also pass tips to Crimestoppers, anonymously, by calling 0800 555 111.<\/p>\n
He pledged to keep working with the Hokianga community as they looked for answers.<\/p>\n
Among those already pursuing solutions is Te Kapehu i Te Kainga, a group set up by \u014cpononi\u2019s P\u0101kanae Marae to combat the meth epidemic.<\/p>\n
Social worker Faith Murray said the drug was nothing new in Hokianga \u2013 but use had escalated dramatically in recent years.<\/p>\n
Alongside the continued import of the drug, the area had many out-of-the-way places where meth could be cooked, or manufactured, without detection.<\/p>\n
A police bust across Northland and Auckland last month, for example, uncovered a manufacturing operation in tiny \u014cmanaia, near R\u0101wene.<\/p>\n
Te Kapehu i Te Kainga social worker Faith Murray. Photo \/ RNZ, Peter de Graaf<\/p>\n
The drug had a devastating effect, Murray said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisintegration of family is probably the biggest thing. There\u2019s also the mental health crisis, and the extra strain it puts on emergency services, our hospital, and in particular our tamariki (children).\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray said the first cohort of meth users had just graduated from a Te Kapehu residential treatment programme in Kaikohe.<\/p>\n
More programmes would be held in future but would be based in Hokianga.<\/p>\n
In coming weeks Te Kapehu would start visiting known drug-dealing spots with a cart offering free kai and coffee.<\/p>\n
The idea behind Te Whata K\u014drero was to discourage dealers while engaging with users about where they could get help.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so we can have free coffee and k\u014drero about the methamphetamine problems people are having, whether they are users themselves, neighbours of users, or in a family of users. We want to talk about how we can help them.\u201d<\/p>\n
People would also be encouraged to pass information to police using the non-emergency number 105.<\/p>\n
Murray said staff were happy to pass messages to police if people were afraid to do it themselves.<\/p>\n
The initiatives had been funded by the Government\u2019s Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities (ROCC) programme, which used assets seized from criminal gangs to pay for grassroots work reducing methamphetamine harm.<\/p>\n
Hokianga Harbour as seen from the beach at \u014cpononi. Photo \/ RNZ, Peter de Graaf<\/p>\n
Te Kapehu was also planning to set up community patrols, to deter dealing and to check in on vulnerable people and continuing its work addressing the trauma that made people turn to drugs in the first place.<\/p>\n
Murray was convinced Hokianga could rid itself of the drug.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople say that\u2019s impossible. I don\u2019t believe it is. It is going to take a community though. There\u2019s no point in relying on one or two police to do all our work for us. It\u2019s up to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarich agreed working together was the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment people are sitting behind closed doors, locked doors now. A lot of our people are scared, they don\u2019t know what to do because they feel that they\u2019re completely on their own. We have to understand that power comes in unity and it comes in numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the death of Wh\u0101ea T\u0101rati had also affected students at the kura.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been very hard to deal with. Our children feel it, they hear about it all around the community. We share what we need to share with them, but most importantly we offer them a space of safety within the school and safety networks within our community if they need that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarich said she had to play a part in the search for solutions because Wh\u0101ea T\u0101rati, as a previous tumuaki at the school, had been so close.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s personal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe everything in life has a purpose of learning in it. But when we\u2019ve lost such a valuable person in our lives \u2026 I can\u2019t see any purpose in that at the moment. However, I need to dig deep, I need to find a purpose, I need to find the understanding and the learning. And if this learning is going to help us in the future to save a life that shouldn\u2019t be lost, then this is the pathway that we need to tread.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next public meeting will be held at Te Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori o Hokianga, on Koutu Point Rd in South Hokianga, on July 24.<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 26-year-old local man has been charged with her murder as well as burgling her home and torching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,4510,15166,60157,78,111,43,139,69,1118,91210,5413,9615,106383,20424],"class_list":["post-522764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-dark","tag-deaths","tag-graaf","tag-in","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-paradise","tag-peter","tag-piece","tag-shadows","tag-violent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522764","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=522764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}