Family remember slain teen, vow to live for her

The family of slain Hawke’s Bay teenager Ariki Rigby have vowed that “we are going to live for you” at a moving farewell to her in Hastings.

About 700 people packed the Ascend Global Church yesterday morning for Ariki’s funeral, with those there to mourn her told the nation was grieving with them.

The ceremony was described as a “celebration of life”, just under two weeks after a car in which her body had been shoved in behind the driver’s seat was torched in a carpark on the outskirts of Havelock North.

The casket carrying Ariki, who would have turned 19 at the end of this month, sat at the front of the church, covered with flowers. A photo montage playing on the screen showed a young woman with a beautiful smile and zest for life.

Ariki was one of nine siblings and a handful of her siblings and her father gathered on stage to pay tribute to their beloved daughter and sister, with sister Anahera Rigby bravely speaking on their behalf.

She said this was a very difficult time for the family, but Ariki would want them to be strong.

“We are going to overcome this. We are going to live for you,” Anahera said. “We are going to live and smile and be happy because you will be telling us this.

“Every time I called you that is what you would say . . . you would pick me up every time I called you.”

She recalled how Ariki would give her shirt off her back or necklace off her neck to help someone. She also recalled, with a smile, how her sister would also cheekily ask for something in return.

“We loved her very much — it is a love-hate relationship with your sister, eh.

“Everyone that knows her knows that my sister was hard. She was a hard woman but that was why we loved her. We loved her for who she was — every bad and every good.

“We have so many cherished memories that we could share about her. But it is so hard to talk about her life when we would just like to have her right here with us.”

She said the entire family was staying strong for her.

“Our family is all together just like you would have wanted, sister.”

She was remembered as a “beautiful sister and daughter” as well as “spontaneous”, during the service.

Ariki will be laid to rest with her great-grandparents, whanau and t¯ıpuna at Motuopae Island, Huria Tauranga Moana in Tauranga.

Anyone with information about Ariki’s death is asked to contact police on 105 quoting file number 220905/1265. Information can be provided anonymously to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.