Kaitaia death 'not suspicious' - police

The police set up cordons in Allen Bell Drive Kaitaia after a body was found in the river beneath the bridge on Tuesday.

The death of a man found in a stream in Kaitaia is not being treated as suspicious and a rāhui has been placed on the area where his body was found.

Police said the dead man was 35-year-old Aaron Mark Roycroft, from Kaitaia.

A post mortem was carried out on Thursday morning and after the results and further inquiries, police are not treating his death as suspicious. The matter has been referred to the Coroner.

A rāhui has been placed on a section of the Awanui River, where the body was found on Tuesday. Kaumatua of Oturu Marae have placed a week-long rāhui on the river between Kitchener St and Empire St as a mark of respect for the deceased and his whānau.

The body was discovered by children shortly after 1pm on Tuesday beneath a bridge on Allan Bell Dr, the officer in charge of the investigation, acting Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Dalzell said.

Dalzell said the death was initially being investigated as "unexplained".

Initially it was suspected that the deceased was a local man whose family had reported him missing on Monday.

"Quite understandably his family were extremely concerned when the body was found on Tuesday, fearing that it might have been him," he said.

Initial identification had discounted that, however, and the "missing" man had subsequently been located.

Scene guards that had been in place since the body was discovered have now been lifted.

Extracting the body from the river had not been quick or easy, however, requiring specialist assistance and an inflatable boat from Far North Surf Rescue.

"It took a bit of time, but eventually we were able to tell the first family that the body was not that of their loved one," Dalzell said.

The body was removed late on Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Dalzell understood that the children who found the body were none the worse for their experience, but would be referred to Victim Support if they wished to avail themselves of that assistance.