Shot woman’s family want to bring her son home
New Zealand family of the woman shot dead by an escaped prisoner in the Cook Islands want to bring her young son home safe.
Mary Dean and her boyfriend were found dead of suspected gunshot wounds in the village of Titikaveka in Rarotonga on Wednesday.
Dean’s estranged partner, Chris Rimamotu, has reportedly been found dead after a police hunt. The 41-year-old is the father of her 9-year-old son and had escaped from prison in the Pacific Island nation.
Rimamotu was serving a sevenyear sentence for the abduction and sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl.
He fled from a group of prisoners who were on a community work scheme clearing properties under the care of two wardens.
Police launched a manhunt for the fugitive, believed to be armed with a .22 rifle. He is believed to have shot the pair in his home district on the southern part of the island.
After a standoff with police, Rimamotu was eventually found holed-up alone in a house on a hilltop near the the village of Vaimaanga, on the southern tip of the island yesterday morning.
Family in Dean’s South Waikato hometown of Tokoroa received news of the shooting from an extended family member in Rarotonga about 6pm on Wednesday, family spokesperson Patrick Tavai said.
Her two daughters, aged 18 and 21, and a son - all from a previous relationship - and a sister were among family gathering at the family home in Tokoroa in shock and anger, he said. ‘‘Obviously everyone is very traumatised, we are a very close-knit family so everybody is just upset,’’ Tavai said.
‘‘There’s confusion and a lot of anger and grief. We gathered last night and could only look at each other and get angry.’’
With no immediate family in the Cook Islands, Tavai said the main concern was to reach Dean’s 9-year-old son.
‘‘Ensuring he is kept safe and brought back to New Zealand, that’s the concern. We think he is safe but we’re not sure if he is with police - I’m sure police have got him covered as he could be a target as well.’’
Family were planning to travel to Rarotonga and retrieve the boy but had waited until Rimamotu was captured and in custody.
Plans were underway to bring Dean’s body home.