Hidden in plain sight
Ngāti Hine, the caregivers, and a child’s death
You may remember little Alestra Kepa-Hati. A four-year-old Māori girl who died in October 2015 after being admitted to Starship Hospital with severe brain injuries. Another dead Māori child. Another case swept under the rug. Another tragic name in a growing list of preventable deaths.
This time, I dug deeper.
Alestra was in the care of Erana Benedito (56) and Walter Benedito (60) of Kaikohe, who were both charged with four counts of child neglect. While the public was left with barely a whisper about who these people really were, a bit of digging uncovered something that should infuriate anyone with a conscience.
After Alestra’s death, Ngāti Hine Health Trust proudly welcomed Erana Benedito as part of their “team.” A Facebook post from the Trust introduces her as a representative for Kaiwhakahaere Housing First Mid North, the very same woman who was caring for Alestra. This wasn’t ancient history. This was after Alestra had already died in their care.
Alestra dies in the custody of Erana and Walter Benedito, and instead of being blacklisted from working around vulnerable children, Erana is embraced by a taxpayer-funded iwi trust, given a title, and plugged into a programme supposedly helping those in need? How fucking grotesque.
What makes this worse is the media silence. Nowhere in the news reports do you see the iwi named. Not a mention of Ngāti Hine Health Trust. Not a whisper about Kaiwhakahaere Housing First Mid North. Nothing about the fact that these so-called “caregivers” were working inside the Māori social service machine, the very system we’re told is better equipped to look after “our own.”
This is the brutal truth that nobody wants to talk about. Alestra wasn’t just failed by a couple of sick individuals. She was failed by an entire structure, one that insists Māori children should be kept within iwi-based care, even when that care ends in trauma, neglect, or death.
We’ve been told for years that iwi-run services are the answer. That Māori children are safest with their own. That Oranga Tamariki removing kids is “colonial violence.” Yet, in cases like this, when an iwi-backed caregiver is involved in a child’s death, the wagons circle, the silence thickens, and the spin machine goes to work.
Where is the accountability?
Why were these people allowed to keep working in the community after a child died on their watch?
And most importantly, how many other Alestras are out there, invisible behind the curtain of “cultural care,” used as political footballs by iwi elites chasing government contracts and cash?
This isn’t just about one child. This is about a deeply broken system. One where iwi organisations get paid to “look after their own,” but no one wants to look too closely when things go horribly wrong. Because to do so would mean admitting that the current model, built on race-based policy and cultural appeasement, is failing the most vulnerable. In that failure, children die.
There is such an impenetrable shroud of silence over ANYTHING to do with iwi initiatives of which this is only one example. I'm at a loss to know how to get the media in general to stop being such cowards. Keep at it Matua Kahurangi, keep hammering.
It feels like a travesty to place a bloody “like” on this story. We take a close look at the picture. Zoom in and see the truth written plainly in the faces. The deep secrets. The pain. Maybe generational pain too but yes you are right to hide this stuff away and not face it is a very sorry state.
I worked once with a foster couple not unlike those two who lived in Brewarrina in Western NSW. That was a kind of happy story though because although that couple were from broken aboriginal homes they took in children from other broken aboriginal homes and actually cared and looked after them. They were well paid by government but did their caring role well…..Such a tough job. God bless those who do it well.