PM weighs in on case

WELLINGTON: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has asked for a review of a decision to deny a UK family entry to New Zealand on humanitarian grounds after their son was killed at sea.

Last weekend, it was reported Barbara Genda and Harry Jarman were refused an exemption by the Ministry of Health to enter New Zealand’s maritime border.

Their 14yearold son, Eddie, died on August 9 after he was hit by a speedboat on Moorea, near Tahiti, while checking an anchor.

The accident is the subject of a manslaughter investigation.

The family are now held up indefinitely in French Polynesia, trying to sell their yacht and return to the UK before the cyclone season arrives.

On Monday, the Prime Minister raised the plight of the family on Newstalk ZB while discussing the maritime border exemption.

‘‘I thought a reasonable case had been made,’’ Ms Ardern said.

‘‘I’m going to go back and look at that one.’’

The ministry subsequently said it was reviewing the family’s case ‘‘as a matter of urgency’’.

It was still finalising what options, if any, might be available to the family in order to enter New Zealand with their yacht via the maritime border.

However, it said it had not been able to get in contact with Ms Genda, Mr Jarman and their 13yearold daughter, Amelie.

Ms Genda said yesterday it ‘‘comes as a surprise’’ Ms Ardern had intervened but they did not have regular internet and had not heard from the Government.

The family are trying to sell their $1 million yacht, the only home they have, in order to return to the UK and restart their lives.

Ms Genda said it was almost impossible to sell the yacht in French Polynesia. Auckland yacht brokers 36 degrees had urged the family to bring it to New Zealand because there were prospective buyers here, but none that could fly to Tahiti to view it.

The family also obtained a letter of support from the British High Commission assuring the ministry Ms Genda and her daughter could return to the UK within days of arriving in New Zealand.

The family flew back to Sussex to bury Eddie in August, but had to return to their yacht to navigate the cyclone season and try to sell it.

The ministry said at the weekend ‘‘the application did not meet the high threshold of a humanitarian exemption’’. — The New Zealand Herald