A mother whose son died at a North Auckland beach says she can't understand why a temporary memorial for her son has become the target of damage and alleged theft.
Melanie Earley of RNZ
In the last nine days, Shara-Lee Porter said a temporary memorial for her 20-year-old son, Tyler Porter, at a tree in front of Arkles Bay had been targeted six times with sentimental items being taken, flowers being thrown in a bin and fairy lights ripped down.
Tyler Porter died at Arkles Bay in July last year, with his body being found 11 days after he went missing.
A tree near where he was found had since become a temporary memorial, the community called it "Tyler's tree", with his mum saying it was a place anyone in the community could come and reflect on anyone they had lost.
The tree was adorned by rocks painted by local school children, along with trinkets including sentimental toys, a candle, flowers, artificial plants and a photograph. Fairy lights were strung in the tree at Christmas time and had remained there until this week.
Shara-Lee Porter said the damage seemed to be happening in the early hours of the morning, and everything had been removed.
"They even ripped out the lights and left them hanging.
"There is no view worth any amount that justifies this kind of behaviour. This level of entitlement is incredibly disappointing."
When RNZ visited Arkles Bay on Friday, there was no sign left of the memorial.
While most of the items could be replaced, Shara-Lee Porter said important sentimental items had been taken during the first incident, including a photo of her son, and a small toy rubbish truck.
She hoped those items could be returned to the tree.
"I hate to think a local would do this, we are a small community, but I don't get it....
"Things that were clearly put there with love have not been returned. Why do they have my son's stuff? It has no value to them. Either things have been destroyed, removed or put in the bin... it doesn't make sense to me."
Shara-Lee Porter said she and other community members had reported the incidents to police on multiple occasions, with the most recent incident happening on Wednesday morning.
So far, she said she had not heard back from police.
She said she tried speaking to neighbours but nobody had seen what happened.
Senior Sergeant Carl Fowlie from Waitematā North police confirmed a report had been made in relation to the tree.
"We are continuing to make inquiries into the report," he said.
Auckland Council also confirmed its staff and contractors were not responsible for the damage or removal of any of the items, the council's area operations for Hibiscus and Bays & Upper Harbour Sandra May said.
There had been no formal approval from the council for the temporary memorial, May noted.
Some members of the community were not in favour of the memorial, Shara-Lee Porter said, as they thought it was turning the beach into a "shrine" or cemetery for her son.
"I've never ever said it's a shrine to my son, this is about community. The community want somewhere to sit and reflect on their own situations because so many people have faced things.
"Generally people greet each other and talk at the tree and it's connected people through loss."
Shara-Lee Porter was in the process of trying to get a permanent memorial plaque or bench at the beach in memory of her son and planned to hand a petition to the council next week.
For now, she said she was at a loss on what to do next with the tree, as she was exhausted dealing with the emotions the damage brought up.
Following her son's death, Shara-Lee Porter also started a Facebook page called "What happens after" which she had used to blog about her son's life and share her own experiences dealing with grief and loss.
Since starting the page, she said she had received no messages from people who had been walking along the beach at Arkles Bay and had recently lost someone, and had ended up talking to someone else in a similar situation at the tree.
"It's for the community, but it can be in Tyler's honour."
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