When will the murder of Māori children be treated like a crisis?
Another Māori child is gone. Another innocent life taken Another community in mourning. Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene, just 3 years old, is the latest victim in a devastating pattern of violence against our most vulnerable. Her alleged murder last week in Kaikohe, Northland, is not just a personal tragedy; it is a national shame.
A 45-year-old man has been charged with her murder. He appeared in the Kaikohe District Court and police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death. Victim Support is working with Catalya’s grieving whānau and the community, who are left to grapple with a loss no family should ever face.
Police found Catalya unresponsive at a home on Tawanui Rd around 6.15pm on Wednesday. She died at the scene. A post-mortem examination has been completed, and 20 police staff are involved in the ongoing investigation. While authorities are now limited in what they can say publicly, the message this case sends to Aotearoa should be loud and clear.
Catalya was remembered by her whānau as their “beautiful darling”. Her body lay at Ngāraratunua Marae in Whangārei before she was laid to rest at St James the Apostle Anglican Church Cemetery.
The fact that this has happened again to a Māori child is more than tragic. It is systemic. It is historic. And it demands more than condolences or court appearances. It demands urgent national reckoning and action. Where is the iwi?
How many more tamariki Māori must die? Why are Māori children so disproportionately the victims of violence and neglect? And why is this tolerated?
This is not an isolated incident. Also this month in Northland, 55-year-old Geoffrey Ware was found murdered in his home. A 26-year-old has been charged. But it is the murder of yet another Māori child that must force us to ask: where is the national outcry?
New Zealand cannot continue to treat these stories as isolated, unfortunate cases. Each child’s death is a symptom of a wider sickness.
Catalya deserved to grow up. She deserved safety, joy, and a future. Her death should not be just another court case or headline. It must be a call to action.
If we fail to respond, not just with words but with deep, sustained commitment to addressing the root causes, we are complicit. Catalya is gone. Let her be the last.
Heartbreaking - and that word is not nearly enough to describe this. There's a lot more that could be said, but the words are jumbled up right now. Thanks for taking the time and self-control to articulate what you have.
No excuses for any of this, she looks to be lovely little girl. What about the 4 year old in the BOP that was torn up by dogs, such a tragedy and let's be honest there are parallels in all of these ongoing cases and carnage. It's not driven by poverty, or 'colonialism', its choices and lifestyle and total dysfunction. Broken and destroyed relationships, destruction of family units. We also need the rapid return of the death penalty for clear cut cases.