Police say the death of a person whose body was found on an east Auckland beach on October 10 will be referred to the coroner.
The body was found by a member of the public at Green Bay Reserve in Beachlands just before 7.30am.
Police say they’ve been investigating a “sudden death” near the reserve.
“We can now advise the death will be referred to the coroner. Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this difficult time.”
Local iwi Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki has implemented a rāhui after the body was found.
As the Times reported on October 10, police announced they were investigating the incident.
“An investigation into the circumstances of the death is under way and at this stage it is being treated as unexplained,” a police spokesperson said.
“A scene examination is under way and we ask that people avoid the area while this is ongoing.
“Further information will be provided when we are in a position to do so.”
A Times staff member who lives in Beachlands says she heard the local emergency siren activated at the Beachlands fire station at about 7.35am.
While driving along Whitford-Maraetai Road toward Howick at about 7.45am she was passed by five police cars and two St John Ambulance vehicles heading for Beachlands.
Zaelene Maxwell-Butler, of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, posted on social media this afternoon that the iwi had implemented a rāhui over the affected area for two weeks from today.
“This morning Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki attended to the coastal marine area beneath the Green Bay Reserve Lookout to carry out our tikanga (protocols) for the young man whose life was lost, for his family, and for the police attending,” she says.
“This notice is to advise that we have laid down a rāhui closing off the Green Bay Reserve Lookout and the Reserve, and the access to the coastal marine area from the bottom of the Belisi Way pathway and extending out to the area beneath the Green Bay Reserve Lookout.
“Out of respect for the young man and his family, we ask that all activities in these areas cease and that the rāhui be acknowledged for a period of two weeks.”
A rāhui is a Maori customary practice banning people from accessing an area and its resources.
