Deaths stun community

Press, 7 October 1988, Page 11

Deaths stun community

PA Napier The tiny Mahia Peninsula community of Mahanga has been stunned by the deaths of two young people in a second tragedy in the area within three weeks. A youth, aged 14, and a man, aged 21, died yesterday in unusual circumstances and the police said yesterday they were not seeking anyone in their inquiries. There is no connection between the deaths and an incident on September •22 which ended with a young man apparently turning a gun on himself at the end of a six-hour siege at a farmhouse. A Wairoa police spokesman said a Mahanga couple found their son,

Thomas William Ripikoi. 14, unconscious in their house about 10.50 a.m. on Wednesday. The boy was taken by car to Nuhaka, about I’s minutes away, but attempts to revive him in the presence of a community nurse failed. The police were called, and when they went to the house where the boy had been found, they found Brett Turoa Hammond, 21, dead. The police spokesman said Mr Hammond died some time after the boy’s family had left the house, and was found abut 12.45 p.m. "We presume he was upset about hearing what had happened, the spokesman said.