Court to rule in family's clash over hijacked body

Ivy May Ngahooro (left) in hospital with her daughter Joy Clarke. Her body is the subject of an emotional family feud.

Opposing sides of a family split by the death of their mother are due to meet in court in the battle over the 76-year-old's body.

Ivy May Ngahooro's estranged daughter, Joanne Bennett, intends to bury her mother in Taumarunui this morning after she and other family members snatched the body from a hearse in Hamilton.

But the Hamilton branch of the family plan to block the burial with a court order won last night.

They want the decision on a resting place to be made in court, and obtained the injunction, which trumped an agreement reached by some family members earlier in the day.

The agreement - between Mrs Bennett and three of Mrs Ngahooro's sons - was reached just after 5pm when the siblings decided to bury Mrs Ngahooro in a public cemetery at Taumarunui today.

But less than an hour after that announcement was made, Trish Scoble - the executor of Mrs Ngahooro's will - told the Herald the burial would not be taking place.

"We have got the injunction and they can't go ahead with it. It's not going to happen - it's not what Aunty May wanted.

"They are missing that whole point there; it's not what Aunty May wanted."

Mrs Scoble said her aunt had made it clear in her will that she wanted to be buried in Hamilton.

She also wanted nothing to do with her estranged daughter.

Mrs Scoble said the brothers had reluctantly come to the agreement before they knew the injunction had been granted, and that would now supersede plans for today's burial.

The injunction means it is now a criminal offence for anyone to bury Mrs Ngahooro until the matter has been heard in court.

"Now they have to return her to Seddon Park [Funeral Home], and we will to be back in court on Wednesday when Joanne can give her side of the story."

After Mrs Ngahooro died last Friday, arrangements were made for a funeral service in Hamilton on Wednesday this week.

But an hour before Mrs Ngahooro was to be buried, Mrs Bennett and four carloads of supporters arrived at the Seddon Park Funeral Home and took her body from a hearse.

Police stopped them at a road block and tried to mediate but were unable to reach a compromise.

Mrs Bennett continued to Taumarunui, where she remained last night with Mrs Ngahooro's body at the Hikairo Marae.

People who know Mrs Bennett have told the Herald she has had nothing to do with her mother for years.

"They pretty much had no contact whatsoever," said Daniel Bennett, from whom she separated last year after 25 years of marriage and 10 children.

"I think the last time she saw her was about three years ago but she [Mrs Ngahooro] had absolutely no time for her at all ... Why she [his wife] is making this play can only be bad for her people."

Mr Bennett said his mother-in-law had never been to Hikairo Marae - about 20km south of Taumarunui - even when her ex-husband, Fred Ngahooro, was buried there 10 years ago.

"Not ever did she go there, not once ... She's never been to the urupa [marae cemetery]."

The Herald yesterday tried to put questions to Mrs Bennett at the marae but was denied entry by the police road block and a landowner who threatened to serve trespass notices.

One man who came out of the marae after the siblings' agreement had been reached indicated the funeral service would proceed today, despite the injunction.

"If she had gone to Newstead [cemetery in Hamilton] she would have been by herself.

"Here [in Taumarunui, at the public cemetery] she will be with her mother and sister and father."

Police have said they are unable to intervene in what is a civil matter.

But if the court order is breached, they will have to act.