THE BIRTHDAY PARTY THAT TURNED TO TRAGEDY
Tevita Kava hasn’t been seen since he fell from a cruise boat last Saturday night. As family and friends hold vigil on the rocky shores of the upper Waitemata waiting for their boy to come home, Cherie Howie traces his last hours.
He was so proud of his new shoes. They were brown and shiny and cost $ 250 and here they were, taking him on his first boat trip. Actually, Tevita Kava — known as Dave or David to many friends and family — was happy with his whole outfit as he stepped on to a Red Boats charter vessel with 50 others on Saturday night, his long- time workmate and friend Esser Tuvae says. The party had a mafia theme and Kava was looking sharp in a buttonup shirt and long black waistcoat. Tuvae’s brother, Carl, was celebrating his 30th birthday by taking a evening cruise on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour. The stylish theme pleased Kava, Tuvae says. “He said ‘ the good thing about this theme is we can go straight to church from the party’.” His friends weren’t surprised by Kava’s comment. Faith was the foundation he built his life on. The Mangere man’s family chose not to speak to the Weekend Herald, but former Elim Bible College classmate Jess Easthope says Kava sometimes attended up to three church services each Sunday. Saturdays weren’t much quieter, with the other half of his weekend spent volunteering at faith- based Manurewa drop- in centre, House of Hope. “He would help people with their problems, have a coffee with them. He was a good listener. “He was a man of few words, but his actions were loud.”
Even the much- loved new shoes would be shed if Kava thought someone needed them more than he did, Easthope says.
LAST SATURDAY afternoon though, the shoes were on.
Tuvae and his older brother arrived to pick Kava up from his Mangere home just after 3pm.
His mum had braided his hair, as she always did, his costume was ready and, of course, there was a big smile on his face.
“He was really, really excited”, Tuvae says. “He told us it was his first time on a boat.”
The trio made their way into the city, where the Tuvae brothers had booked rooms in a Fort St hotel.
After the boat trip, they would go back there, Tuvae says.
“We’d booked a hotel so no one would drink and drive.”
They wanted everyone to get home safe.
A short video Tuvae took at the hotel shows Kava, laughing with his friends. “It’s the last one I have of him.” He wishes he had taken more. They’ve been mates a long time and the bond was strong.
“He was my partner in everything. We used to drive all the way from [ Mangere] to the night markets out here, in Glenfield.”
Kava was from Tonga, but also has Samoan family, and he was especially keen on food from the islands, Tuvae says.
“He loved his food, but I don’t know where it all went. I think his [ calories] came to me.”
Next year, the pair would’ve celebrated a decade of friendship.
It was a friendship forged in one of the coldest places in the city, the freezer area of the Tip Top icecream factory where they both worked, Tuvae says.
But Kava had a big, warm heart.
BY EARLY evening the revellers were getting ready to leave for Pier 20 on Auckland’s waterfront, where their charter boat was waiting.
It had been a cool, wet day, but the weather had cleared by the afternoon, MetService meteorologist Tom Adams says.
The national weather service don’t take sea surface temperature readings in the harbour, but the high on the Harbour Bridge peaked at 14.2C by 2pm and began dropping around 6pm.
By midnight it was 11.5C, but there was a stiff breeze, with winds of 15km/ h, gusting to 25km/ h in the evening.
Some time after 7pm the birthday party group gathered outside their hotel to catch taxis to the waterfront, with Kava and the birthday boy in the last one.
When they arrived, Kava insisted on paying the whole fare himself, Tuvae says.
“He said [ to Carl] ‘ it’s your birthday, so don’t worry about it’. That’s him. He was like that at work too, he’d come in with his lunch and share it around.”
A favourite was Kava’s homemade Tongan dish. Tuvae can’t remember the name, but says it had lamb and taro leaves and all kinds of tasty goodness.
Easthope and other classmates at Bible College also fared well from their generous friend.
Mii Apai smiles as she remembers one of her classmate’s catchphrases.
“‘ Are you hungry?’, he always used to say that.”
If they were, it wasn’t for long, Easthope says.
“He was always feeding us. Banana cakes, icecream, milkshakes, pizzas, pies. He’d buy us KFC. He’d bring it in and then leave it there and not say he’d done it.”
Now Easthope, Apai and fellow Bible College classmate Clem Matangi are doing something for their friend.
They’ve gathered on the deserted waterfront at Island Bay, on the eastern side of the upper harbour area, and they’re searching around rocks and under overhanging trees.
If one of them was missing, they know Kava would do the same, Easthope says.
“He’d be feeding everyone from his big, black Chevy truck.”
There’s a heaving great city just over the harbour but you wouldn’t know it here.
The peace is only broken by the odd squawk from a seagull, its fishand- chip stuffed body wavering above as the sharp breeze whips up early afternoon.
The trio say finding their friend would be hard, but it would also be a relief.
They’ve watched as family — who are now searching the shoreline around Birkenhead — gather at the wharf that juts out beyond Island Bay Rd.
Most heartbreaking were the desperate cries of Kava’s 5- year- old brother, Easthope says.
“He was out there [ on the wharf ] calling ‘ David, come on, let’s go home. It’s cold out there’.” IT WASN’T meant to be like this, Tuvae says.
Almost a week ago, they were leaving the kaleidoscope colours of the city twinkling behind.
More than 150km north, the Lions were kicking off their muchanticipated New Zealand tour against the Barbarians in Whangarei.
But in Auckland, the birthday party group were motoring under the Harbour Bridge, past the Chelsea Sugar Factory and soon making their way around the inky black tree line of Kauri Point Domain.
The celebrations started slowly, shyly, Tuvae says.
“Everyone was getting to know each other.”
Despite the quiet beginnings,