Chch tears for Grace
She was a visitor to our nation and never got to see Christchurch but, for hundreds of mourners in Cathedral Square, the hurt was personal.
Few in New Zealand had the privilege of meeting Grace Millane, whose overseas adventure was cruelly cut short when she was allegedly murdered.
Her body was found about 10 metres from the side of a road in Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges on Sunday. A 26-year-old man was charged with her murder.
More than 300 people from all walks of life gathered for a vigil in Christchurch’s centre yesterday.
Men and women, old and young attended. Business attire contrasted with paint-covered jeans from tradespeople coming straight from work. Their grief was raw and visceral.
The Christchurch gathering was one of many across the country last night.
Detective Inspector Scott Beard, the officer in charge of Millane’s case, spoke in Auckland’s CBD at a gathering organised by Stuff journalist Alison Mau and domestic violence charity The Aunties.
Earlier in Auckland, about 250 people turned out to honour Millane at a separate White Ribbon vigil in St Patrick’s Square in the CBD. Crowds gathered in Wellington, New Plymouth, Nelson, Blenheim and Dunedin.
Despite the Christchurch crowd, its city centre was quiet. A karakia was sung before Amazing Grace. Then, one by one, people lit candles in her memory and placed them at the foot of a tree.
Among the crowd was a domestic violence survivor. She did not want to give her name because ‘‘I don’t want him knowing where I am’’.
‘‘My choice was I either left or I died, so I understand this so well.’’
Tears began streaming down her face when she spoke about her own daughters, and the idea of them travelling alone. She and her friends wanted an inquiry into domestic abuse in New Zealand, beyond the scope of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and Faith-based Institutions. One woman, who spent several years living in state care due to abuse as a child, said she was ‘‘ashamed’’.
Humiliated, embarrassed and disgraced were all words repeated throughout the evening. But there was also a chance to make something good happen. ‘‘This is an opportunity for us to say enough is enough,’’ said the woman who had lived in state care.
‘‘When are we going to stand up in New Zealand and say we are accountable for what happens here?’’
The vigil was for all victims. Fiftynine people had been murdered in New Zealand so far in 2018.
Natasha Moutter, the Christchurch vigil’s organiser, said the nation was heartbroken.
As a daughter and the mother of a girl, she felt deeply affected by Millane’s disappearance and had followed the updates, ‘‘praying and holding my breath’’ she would be found safe.
‘‘She should’ve been able to travel here safely. She loved our country . . . but she didn’t get enough of a chance to experience that because someone took it away from her.’’