Fishermen pull in body weighed down with rocks

Steven Christian said the body sank back down after being pulled up by his anchor. Picture / Martin Sykes

A homicide inquiry is likely to be launched if police can relocate a body which is believed to be sitting at the bottom of the Manukau Harbour, weighted down with rocks and wrapped in net.

Police divers have been searching the murky harbour waters, about 600m out from Waikowhai Bay, since Sunday when a group of fishermen spotted the body while pulling in their anchor.

Otahuhu man Steven Christian, his friend Peter and Peter's 19-year-old and 10-year-old sons had been fishing in the same spot for about half an hour when they decided to move on at 2.30pm.

Mr Christian said the anchor was heavier than expected and it took all three adults to pull it in.

As the anchor surfaced Mr Christian saw that it was hooked in a large object. He suspected it might be a body but was still not prepared for what he saw. " ... as it came out of the water there was a net with what seemed to be a head and a couple of big rocks in it. There were a couple of eyes looking straight up at me," said the 25-year-old.

"It wasn't what I wanted to see, I just freaked out and said to my mate, 'There's a net, there's a net' ... I didn't want to say there was a head in the net."

In the shock of seeing a human head and trying to shield it from Peter's 10-year-old son, the net fell back into the water.

Mr Christian said the body sank straight back down and has not been seen since.

From what he saw he believes the head was a woman's and that it had shoulder-length hair.

There was some red fabric near the head but Mr Christian could not see the rest of the body because it was wrapped in the cargo-type net and weighted with large rocks.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Gutry said the men's find was being treated seriously by police, who have spent two days in the water trying to relocate the body.

Mr Gutry said tidal flow and poor visibility were making the search difficult, but if the body was found there was a good chance a homicide inquiry would follow.

"If what they have seen is correct, it obviously hasn't happened accidentally and we will be looking at at least a suspicious death and probably a homicide."

Mr Gutry said the description of the body indicated it had not been in the water for probably more than a day or two.

Police were working through missing persons files but Mr Gutry said there was no obvious match at the moment.

"Until we find this body, there's very little direction for us to go in at the moment."

While the body was described as being a woman in her 20s, police were remaining open-minded on the age, race and gender saying it could be difficult to know for sure when a body had been underwater.

The fishing party returned to the harbour yesterday to show police for a second time exactly where they thought the body would be.

Peter said he had been unable to eat for two days and his son had had nightmares on Sunday night.

Mr Christian believed the body would be rediscovered because it was so heavy it would be unlikely to drift far.

Mr Christian's father also discovered a body while fishing in the Manukau Harbour about nine years ago. In that case the body turned out to be that of a fisherman who had gone missing about a month earlier.