A family is appealing for information and witnesses after a memorial cross and all its sentimental items were stolen from Maraetai.
On Friday January 14 Hayley Inalei and her family went to the spot where her sister, Katarina Toetoe, died in August last year in a car crash.
“We finally managed to build up the strength to take a cross where our sister’s life was taken,” Inalei said in a social media post.
The spot, located before heading into Maraetai Beach and after Te Puru Park, was blessed by their pastor and the family placed several important and sentimental items around the cross – including a white stone feather, a jar with Katarina’s hair and heartbeat, a pink lantern, a teddy bear and memorial badges, Inalei told the Times.
The following day Inalei returned, left, and came back at around 8:40pm to find that the cross and items had been stolen.
“Everything is gone,” Inalei says. “Everything has been ripped out. Why would you do that? It’s pretty sacred.”
The flowers, Inalei says, was the only item not taken and had been thrown into the grass.
Inalei has contacted the police and Auckland Council.
“The police have been looking and asking locals,” she says.
She says that it was neither the Council nor NTZA had removed it. If a complaint had been lodged, a warning sticker would’ve appeared beforehand on the cross.
“All our whanau ask is that the stuff be returned as it literally holds something of my sister in a necklace,” she said.
If anyone saw someone taking the cross down on Saturday January 15 between the hours of 6pm-8pm on the road to Maraetai, contact Inalei on 0212657675.
