Kaleah Paul at her little brother Archie Paul's resting place in Maunu Cemetery, where the lights pictured have been taken from his grave. Photo / supplied
Kaleah Paul at her little brother Archie Paul's resting place in Maunu Cemetery, where the lights pictured have been taken from his grave. Photo / supplied
A Whangārei mother whose newborn son passed away 13 hours after birth is now enduring the pain of thieves stealing from her late baby's grave.
Gemah Bird is "disgusted" and "hurt" somebody could steal from little Archie Paul's resting place in Whangārei's Maunu Cemetery as she and her family stillgrieve for their lost son and brother.
Their pain is shared by the Pukeroa whanāu, who are outraged that items were taken from their son and little brother's grave too – just a few plots away.
Bird realised items were missing from Archie's grave on August 29, less than two months after the family had laid their newborn to rest.
Gemah Bird with newborn son Archie Paul and his big brother Malachi Whittaker, her partner Cody Paul, and daughter Kaleah Paul before Archie's passing. Photo / supplied
A mix of a black fire-like light, star lights and two colourful blue lights that surrounded Archie's cross were gone.
"Those were our baby's night lights so he can see in the dark," she said.
"It makes us sick and upset to know that someone has come into the cemetery, over to our baby's resting place and taken his lights. How can you steal from a baby? That's what we don't understand."
Upset, the family drove around Maunu Cemetery in search of the lights.
"... but they were nowhere to be seen," Bird said.
It was the first time anything had gone missing from Archie's well-adorned resting place.
On and around his grave sit toy lions, dinosaurs, minions, bubbles, flowers, balloons, sunflower windmills from his nan; plus a digger as a nod to his digger operator dad, and a dump truck for his poppa.
Bird said they were so that Archie's big brother and sister could come and play with their baby brother.
It wasn't uncommon for others to play with the toys but she said they always returned them afterwards.
"We as a family feel disgusted and hurt that any person could steal from our baby's and other grieving families' loved ones' graves."
Bird couldn't understand how someone could continue to lead a normal day-to-day life knowing they'd taken from a cemetery and a loved one.
"We hope as a community we will be able to find who is responsible for this. Whangārei is a small town and no doubt someone has to know who is doing this," she said.
The Pukeroa whanāu have echoed the call for the culprit to be brought forward.
Nikole Whareaitu said it was "devastatingly heartbreaking" that people kept taking the lights off her younger brother's grave.
The solar lights have been taken twice from the resting place of Nikole Whareaitu's little brother in Maunu Cemetery. Photo / supplied
The family were still coming to terms with the 23-year-old's unexpected death in April.
Whareaitu said it was the second and "hopefully last time" the lights, bought for her brother by his best friend and mum for less than $12 from Bunnings, were taken.
"It's not so much that these items were important, or were of great value, but it's the fact that someone would take them from his grave," she said.
"We don't have our brother with us anymore and it's one of the only ways we can show our love for him, so to have this happen is hurtful and upsetting."
A Maunu Cemetery custodian confirmed they hadn't moved the items, which sometimes can happen as they carried out maintenance work.
The Pukeroa whanāu felt for the Bird family.
"We just hope that whoever is doing this sees this article or the Facebook post and thinks twice before doing it again," Whareaitu said.
"We hope they realise the pain they are causing already grieving families and that they should stop doing it."
Maunu Cemetery manager Stephen Jenkins says thefts aren't a normal occurrence at the burial grounds (pictured) in Whangārei. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Maunu Cemetery manager Stephen Jenkins was gutted at the incident. "Families have gone through enough, and to see them go through more is upsetting," he said.
Jenkins was aware of the current thefts but reassured that it wasn't something that usually happened at Maunu Cemetery.
He advised people to report any thefts or concerns to cemetery staff.
"They can let us know so we're aware of it...we definitely take note of what solar lights are around and check them the next day."
Any major concerns could be reported to police, Jenkins said.
