Hawke’s Bay night assault victim Andy Winitana remembered as ‘amazing man’

Hastings man Andy Winitana is being remembered as a colossus of a man after he died following an assault in Ahuriri on Sunday.

A man who died after an assault outside a Napier nightclub has been remembered as a “colossus of a man” in both stature and community spirit.

Andy Winitana, 46, of Hastings, died in hospital yesterday following an assault about 1am on Sunday on West Quay in the suburb of Ahuriri.

A 21-year-old man appeared in the Napier District Court on Tuesday on a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He has been remanded in custody. Police said they were considering further charges.

A social media post written on behalf of his whānau said Winitana, the family’s “beautiful humble gentle giant”, was taken off life support on Tuesday at 1.12pm.

He was surrounded by his whānau as well as with waiata, karakia and “so, so, so much love with oceans of tears”, the post said.

Winitana is listed online as the managing director of iScaffold Aotearoa and the national managing director of construction business Whakamana Ltd.

Hastings district councillor Henare O’Keefe said he worked as a volunteer alongside Winitana, helping prisoners gain building qualifications at Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison and in the post-Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up.

“[He was] one of our kaiwhakamana volunteers, those are volunteers that can go into any prison to see anyone at any time, and Andy loved going in there, even though he was busy with his own business,” he said.

Henare paid tribute to Winitana in the council chambers this morning, where he called Winitana an amazing man of an ilk the community cannot afford to lose as “they’re the glue in any community that holds it all together”.

There were multiple stories of Winitana rushing through Henare’s head when speaking to Hawke’s Bay Today, but one that stood out was when they were helping a prisoner who was about to be released.

“I think it’s a poignant story because right there on the spot, Andy offered him a job.

“And I thought ‘that doesn’t happen very often for complete strangers to come together like that’,” he said.

“For a gentleman inside the wire who’s had a very colourful lifestyle, and for Andy to step out in faith and to reach out to him like that, I think that’s an amazing story.

“He was a colossus of a man in many ways, physically, but kind and humble and caring.

“He was one of those people who would literally give you the shirt off their backs. I just feel for his family, his wife and his children.”

Henare said it was now up to the community and its leaders to keep the memory of Winitana alive.

“How we do that is be good mums, be good dads, just be good, kind, caring people. That’s how we keep his memory alive,” he said.

“If he was standing here today, he would say, look, don’t let your sun go down upon its anger, put it right before the sun goes down. That’ll be Andy. They didn’t call him Handy Andy for nothing.”

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.