Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

'Why would anyone do this?'

By Peter Jackson
Northland Age·
10 May, 2021 04:44 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Victor Rakich with a tray of potted colour - not as complete as it was before someone helped themselves - for his parents' graves. Photo / Peter Jackson

Victor Rakich with a tray of potted colour - not as complete as it was before someone helped themselves - for his parents' graves. Photo / Peter Jackson

Victor Rakich gave up trying to understand where the world was going some time ago. He is no nearer finding an answer since someone started stealing plants from his parents' graves.

"Why would anyone do this?" he asked last week after pansies were taken from the plastic tray he had put there a few days earlier.

"Don't these people, whoever they are, have a heart?"

Rakich takes very good care of his parents' final resting place at the Kaitaia cemetery. His father, Ivan, died in 1993, and his mother, Zorka, in 2012, but they are never far from his thoughts. He visits them three or four times a week, and regularly buys small flowering plants for them. And now someone has begun stealing them.

They don't take whole trays, but pull plants out of them, leaving others behind. They had also started stealing plants from from another grave nearby, leaving gaps in their containers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Rakich hesitated to describe what was happening as theft, but was distressed that someone would show such little respect for others, the living and the deceased.

"I can't understand why anyone would even think of doing this," he said.

"Why can't they just let people rest in peace?"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

'I wouldn't wish it on anyone': Why are victims having to wait until 2027 for justice?

21 Jun 01:00 AM
Northland Age

Far North news in brief: National average rent drops, Far North Council hosts Kerikeri mini-expo

18 Jun 06:00 PM
Northland Age

Environment Court approves 115-lot rural subdivision near Kerikeri

18 Jun 05:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

'I wouldn't wish it on anyone': Why are victims having to wait until 2027 for justice?

'I wouldn't wish it on anyone': Why are victims having to wait until 2027 for justice?

21 Jun 01:00 AM

Nine homicide cases this year have added to the delays in the High Court at Whangārei.

Far North news in brief:  National average rent drops, Far North Council hosts Kerikeri mini-expo

Far North news in brief: National average rent drops, Far North Council hosts Kerikeri mini-expo

18 Jun 06:00 PM
Environment Court approves 115-lot rural subdivision near Kerikeri

Environment Court approves 115-lot rural subdivision near Kerikeri

18 Jun 05:00 PM
On The Up: 'Proud of him': Teen's netball journey from umpire to player

On The Up: 'Proud of him': Teen's netball journey from umpire to player

18 Jun 12:00 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP