What police say about the Manawatū blaze that left four dead. Video / RNZ
Friends of the Manawatū mother mourning the death of her three children in a “very dark and terrible” incident say it “feels like the whole of Aotearoa is with her” after the public have donated more than $270,000 to her.
The Herald understands Saturday’s blaze inthe town of Sanson and the deaths of Dean Field and his children Goldie, August and Hugo, are being investigated as a suspected murder-suicide.
Police would not say if the matter had been ruled a homicide when asked by reporters yesterday afternoon.
Manawatū Area Commander Inspector Ross Grantham said the man died at the scene but was not burned in the blaze.
Friends of the children’s mother, Chelsey Field, set up a Givealittle donation page for her on Sunday to create a “safety net for her” and to “provide her with the space and security needed to grieve in solitude, without the added stress of financial ruin”.
That Givealittle page has so far raised more than $270,000 from upwards of 7000 donors.
The page’s creator, Danni Hullett, thanked donors in a message on Monday “for the outpour of such immediate generous financial support, the beautiful messages of love, thoughts and prayers, and the community spirit that you all have created for our friend”.
“No amount of money will ever be enough to heal the wounds left in her heart and soul, but to have this safety net to rebuild her life, knowing what feels like the whole of Aotearoa is with her, and how you have all contributed to this outpouring of love in so many ways is more than we could’ve ever hoped for,” Hullett wrote.
At Monday’s press conference in Palmerston North, Inspector Grantham would not say if the case was a homicide.
He told reporters that investigators are still working to determine the circumstances of the deaths.
“It’s unimaginable the horror and the heartache that this family are going through. It’s great for the community to support them. It’d be great if we can all support them, just give them some space to grow and get through it,” Grantham said.
“The next few days will be just like today. It’ll be hard grind for our frontline police officers, going to be hard grind for our people talking to those involved because it’s so emotional.”
He said police will remain at the property for as “long as it takes”.
Dean Field’s body and those of two of the children were removed from the scene on Sunday.
The body of the third child was removed on Monday, Grantham said.
“Our thoughts are going out, of course, to the people that have to deal with this going forward, which is both families,” Parker said in an interview before yesterday’s police press conference.
Police at the scene of house fire in Sanson the day after four people died at the property. Photo / Mark Papalii, RNZ
“Clearly Chelsey is right in the middle of it, but her family, the grandparents, brothers, sisters, Dean’s family.
“Not only they’ve lost their son and their grandkids, they now have to face this horrible fact of potentially what has happened here, which, you know, we have to wait until a bit more detail comes out, but it’s pretty clear, I feel like to everybody what has happened which is something very dark and terrible.”
“We basically stood there for a quarter of an hour just looking at it, just freaking out and just feeling terrible about really what was going on right in front of our eyes, which was somebody losing their livelihood, all their likely possessions.”
The other neighbours said they saw huge flames coming out of the side of the house.
