‘Softest, kindest soul’
Tairua man found dead on roadside also the father of a year-old boy
The idyllic Coromandel holiday town of Tairua is in mourning after the alleged roadside murder of popular local Bayden Williams.
The 20-year-old’s body was discovered along the Kopu-Hikuai Rd on Wednesday night.
A 23-year-old man known to Williams has since been in court, charged with murder.
The young dad leaves behind a 1-year-old son as well as two sisters, a brother and devastated parents.
Many of the small town’s 1700 residents had since passed through the Gull Tairua petrol station where Williams worked, to recall fond memories of him, manager Damian Fletcher said.
“We are talking from young kids right up to our community elders have come in and shared their thoughts about how respectful he was to everyone he met.
“No one saw this coming — Bayden didn’t have enemies.”
Fletcher didn’t want to talk about the circumstances surrounding Williams’ death, except to say he was incredulous that such a bright young man could be targeted by anyone.
“He had the softest, kindest, most respectful soul you’ve ever come across,” Fletcher said.
“I’ve never seen him do anything in anger. I’ve seen him in situations where most people would explode, but he would just remain calm and deal with it in a mature way.”
Fletcher got to know Williams shortly after he moved to Tairua five years ago.
Bayden Williams was much loved and respected in the Coromandel holiday town of Tairua.
He came from an “amazing, loving family”, who were long-time locals in the close-knit community.
Williams’ dad Lance was a wellknown painting contractor and volunteer firefighter, and Tracey was a “caring mum”.
Williams was working in a Tairua takeaway shop when Fletcher moved to the town.
“I saw the qualities in the kid, and I wanted him to work for me at Gull — so I poached him when he was about 16 to 17 years old,” he said.
“I quickly formed a real close friendship with him and his father and just watched him grow.”
Williams was always ready to cover other people’s shifts and help out.
“I trusted that kid like he was my own son, and he would be there at the drop of a hat for me and anyone else,” Fletcher said.
Just over a year ago, Bayden also became a dad.
“His son’s birth lit him up, he was going to be a great father. Coming from such a great family, he had inherited that love and he was going to pass that on to his kid and his boy was going to be a little Bayden.”
Yet for all the changes in his life, Williams always had time for others, Fletcher said.
“He’s got such a big group of friends — literally hundreds — and he always had time for them or his family or work colleagues no matter what.”
The Tairua community had now
rallied around the Williams family in preparation for a funeral this week.
A hangi is being prepared and local restaurants are set to cook extra food for mourners.
A Givealittle page has also been set up as a way of “easing some pressure of any funeral expenses and unexpected costs”.
“Bayden was a gentle man with a heart of gold and he always had a smile that you could see for miles,” the fundraising organisers said.
“His family, friends and his son meant everything to him.”
For Fletcher, Williams’ death has not only left a hole in his life but in the whole community.
“He was a rare human being. The town is never going to be the same.”