Woman found dead in flat after alarm raised
A woman in her 60s found dead in her flat was only discovered after she failed to turn up to a weekly medical appointment.
Police discovered the woman’s body in her flat in Grey St, Feilding, about 2pm on Tuesday.
Less than 24 hours later, the belongings she had accumulated over the 15 years she lived there were stacked up on the back of a trailer.
Her family won’t be coming to collect it. Her neighbours say she didn’t have any.
A man who lives in the units, who did not wish to be named, said the woman, who was transgender, kept very much to herself.
In the just over a year he had lived there he had only noticed one person visit her, and her employer had told him she had no family.
She worked from home as a computer programmer, he said.
Concerns were raised after the woman failed to turn up to a regular Tuesday appointment for a leg injury she had suffered in a car crash years ago.
‘‘She didn’t arrive and the district nurse rang with no reply, so they came screaming up in their car and when there was no response they called the police.’’
He had heard the last time she spoke to her employer was on Sunday.
Of the seven units in the complex, only one was occupied by two people. The rest lived alone. ‘‘We do keep an eye on one another.’’
The woman’s death was unnerving and he was glad he had a step-daughter who kept an eye out for him.
A police spokesman said it appeared the woman’s death was a medical event and it had been referred to the coroner.
Feilding Bible Church community pastor Kevin Barron said the town was known as ‘‘Friendly Feilding’’, but loneliness was a big concern. Through his connections with community groups, Barron said he saw a lot of people on the edge of society and falling through the cracks.
‘‘We have told people to ‘look after themselves’ and ‘be your own strength’ and that’s why people get left alone in their own home, because we are told not to get involved in other people’s lives.’’
Barron said he encouraged people to look over the fence and check on their neighbours.
Police said when a body was discovered, every effort was made to locate family.
If that failed, police could apply to the council for a grant to dispose of the body under the Burials and Cremation Act.