OPOTIKI - The family of two children stabbed to death in Rawene have challenged the Government to do more for victims of crime.
As hundreds of mourners gathered on an Opotiki marae yesterday to bury 3-year-old Israel Te Apatu-Aporo and 11-month-old Keziah Smith, the family distributed a press release calling on the Coalition to honour the recent referendum demanding better victim support.
"It has become increasingly obvious to us that communities live in fear," it read. "It was fear that made people ignore the obvious signs of deviant behaviour that took our babies' lives ...
"We implore community groups, even church groups, to seek professional or skilled help for young families, and never assume that all is well without asking them."
The two children were laid to rest in a family plot on Kutarere Marae, near the family home of their mother, Te Huia Hape.
Ms Hape, who was herself injured in Friday's stabbing, left hospital on Sunday and travelled with her father and other close family members back to Opotiki, where she grew up and where her parents and several brothers and sisters still live, so her children could be buried among their family.
In Rawene on Tuesday, residents gathered to farewell the other victim of the triple stabbing, Trevor Mokaraka, whose heroic actions have been credited with saving Ms Hape's life.
He had just moved back to Rawene to be among his whanau. They and other townspeople turned out in force for his funeral at Okahui Cemetery, and mourners performed an impromptu haka on the way to the service.
A 31-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with the three murders. He has interim name suppression.
The Minister of Justice, Phil Goff, said yesterday that the only details he knew of the case were from news reports and he could not prejudge what had occurred.
"It seems that the man had a mental health problem. Was the fact that he was out in the community something that rendered the community unsafe without the benefit of hindsight? I don't know the answer to that.
"I can say the Labour Party is committed to improving the resourcing of mental health treatment. The best way of protecting a victim is to stop the offence happening in the first place.
"If an inquiry subsequently finds the system was at fault then, yes, clearly action is required to improve the system ...
"The Prime Minister and I want to pass on our condolences to the mother of the dead children and to do whatever we can to improve the system to minimise system failure if that was a factor."
Kaumatua Charlie Aramoana said the Kutarere Marae had been thronged with people since Ms Hape arrived with the children's bodies on Sunday night.
"It is very, very sad," he said. "The two children were babes of the world and still had their lives to live."
- NZPA
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