• ‘She was scared of someone’: Bay family distraught over woman’s mystery disappearance

‘She was scared of someone’: Bay family distraught over woman’s mystery disappearance

The Hawke’s Bay family of a woman missing for more than two months are convinced there has been foul play and have vowed not to give up searching, even though police have "no further lines of enquiry".

Jamie Kaiwai was last seen in Tolaga Bay on the beach, by the wharf, on the evening of Friday, October 11.

Her vehicle was found with the keys in the ignition and the doors open. Her belongings back home.

But it is the phone call that cousin, Jonique Oli-Alainu'uese, wife of newly-elected Hastings District Councillor Peleti Oli, had two days prior which has her convinced it is something more sinister.

"She was so afraid that she didn't want to get off the phone with me," Oli-Alainu'uese said.  

"She was scared of someone but she wouldn't tell me who, and she wouldn't tell me why. She said, 'I just want to get away'."

They agreed to meet when Oli-Alainu'uese was due to visit that weekend. It never happened.

"She went missing apparently a day before I arrived there and we haven't seen or heard nothing. She's literally just vanished."

An extensive search took place soon after her disappearance, coordinated by Fire and Emergency NZ, along with Police, Search and Rescue teams and the community.

Police divers searched the sea and river with sonar equipment but to no avail. Oli-Alainu'uese is adamant she is not in the water.

"The river and the ocean only go one way so anything that goes out eventually comes back in."

At the time of Kaiwai's disappearance, heavy rain meant there was a lot of slash.

"I find it interesting that all the logs came back around but she didn't."

Furthermore, she says Kaiwai "hates the water".

"She didn't like swimming, she couldn't swim and she didn't like the water. My family know that if it was suicide, it wouldn't have been there."

Kaiwai's disappearance has taken a "huge toll" on the tight-knit family.

The 27-year-old has a five-year-old son who is currently with his dad and regularly kept in touch with her cousin, and grandparents.

Her cousin says it has been "really hard".

At first, she found it hard to accept she was missing.

But as the days passed, and "things weren't adding up", she says she had to go with her gut feeling that "none of what it looks like around her disappearance is her".

"I wouldn't say I'm okay but I am a lot better than I was in the beginning. When the police were involved, her cards hadn't been used and she was just nowhere, it just started to sink in that she's probably not going to come back and it's heart-breaking."

 "There were days when I couldn't get out of bed because I was so upset ... the thought of not seeing her. We're all struggling in some way and I feel guilty because what if I had just gone a day earlier?"

However, Oli-Alainu'uese says she can't think like that and has instead put all her effort into planning for a family-led search around the surrounding areas of Tolaga Bay in a few weeks’ time.

"Surrounding her disappearance, the silence around it has been really loud and if you were to ask me if I think she had committed suicide my answer would be no." 

A police spokeswoman said the disappearance is not considered suspicious.

In November extensive search operations were undertaken to locate her around the Tolaga Bay area, she said.

"Unfortunately, she was not located. Police have also spoken to a number of witnesses in relation to this matter and at this stage, police have no further lines of enquiry and have communicated this with her family."  

Her family, however, say their loved one deserves to be laid to rest.

"We as a whanau aren't naive to the fact that [a suicide] is a high possibility and we are aware that we might never get her body. However, if you were to ask me why I continue to search after this long my answer is simple: I continue to search for her because she deserves a tangi." 

Where to get help:

If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call police immediately on 111.

Or if you need to talk to someone else:

  • YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633
  • NEED TO TALK? Free call or text 1737 (available 24/7)
  • KIDSLINE: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
  • WHATSUP: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
  • DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757 or TEXT 4202
  • Samaritans: 0800 726 666

 

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