Crash victim a pioneering detective
The woman killed in a head-on crash in Paekakariki on Sunday was pioneering Maori detective Te Rauoriwa Daphne Pomare.
The 79-year-old had just flown back from a holiday in Western Australia and was driving home to Levin when her car was in collision with another car on a notorious stretch of State Highway 1 south of the township.
Her nephew, Eddie Tuuta, got the call that his aunt had been flown to Wellington Hospital in a critical condition.
Family flocked to the hospital and were with Pomare, who never regained consciousness, when her life support was switched off early yesterday. ‘‘When she did pass it was a relief,’’ Tuuta said. ‘‘To see her lying there and you knew she didn’t have a chance.’’
Tuuta praised Wellington Hospital staff, who kept Pomare alive till the family were ready to have support switched off. ‘‘Hospital staff left her with us for two hours. By the time [I] had to make a decision, I asked them, ‘Is this time?’ ’’
Pomare, known as Daphne, was the youngest of about eight siblings. She was born in the Chatham Islands and moved with the family to Nelson when she was child. After finishing school, she was in the navy before joining the police force and becoming New Zealand’s first Maori woman detective.
Tuuta said Pomare was a ‘‘proud woman’’ who was ‘‘respected by all of us’’ and – sometimes – avoided by the younger generations. ‘‘They knew when she was around they had to behave. At the same time, she was very good to them.’’
Retired detective Carole Tipler has fond memories of Pomare from their time working together in Lower Hutt in 1972. Pomare was a youth aid officer at the time, and the only woman in the station until new recruit Tipler arrived. ‘‘She was very matter of fact, a very strong lady and very no nonsense. She certainly taught me a bit.’’
Pomare took it in her stride that she was so outnumbered by men. ‘‘She was not a clerk in any shape or form, but very much a working police officer and highly respected by her male colleagues.’’
Joshua Rodgers, of Korokoro, Lower Hutt, was one of about half a dozen people who stopped at the scene to help before emergency services arrived.
The former paramedic said the group, which included a doctor, wrenched open the car doors, and one man climbed into the back seat of the southbound car to help those trapped inside. It was an intense situation to be involved in, but all those who stopped appeared calm under pressure. ‘‘These are our heroes, the ones that didn’t drive past.’’