Editorial: Police need our help to solve crime

Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

One always feels for the families of people who die in violent situations.

When the victim initially clings to life before dying in hospital, the situation is made worse.

Add to this a lack of information about the circumstances surrounding the death and you have a tragedy that no family should have to go through.

This is the situation facing the family of Mark Geoffrey Beale, 45, of Haumoana, who was found unconscious on a beach on Monday morning.

He died overnight and, as a result, officers have upgraded the case to a homicide. Our condolences to his family.

Police believe he was the victim of an assault and are now appealing for any witnesses or anyone who may have information in relation to the incident to come forward.

In a statement police said they would like to hear from people who may have been in the area of Domain Rd and Grange Rd on Sunday afternoon, or that evening.

Police hope members of the public may have seen Mr Beale as the area is a popular area for people fishing, walking the dog or engaged in any other recreational activity.

It is vital that anyone who knows what happened or even if they just saw something suspicious to contact the police. You can do so by calling Hastings Police on (06) 873 0500 or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can call CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111.

We don't know the circumstances of the case or why Mr Beale was in that area at that time, but it does not really matter at this stage. Someone is responsible for his death and needs to be held responsible.

We need to do all we can to provide information to enable justice to be served.