Neville Thomson was a father and grandfather whose household was extraordinarily essential to him.
It’s been a yr since a heartbroken Nataria Moore buried her father however, with circumstances round his dying left largely unclear, she nonetheless waits for closure.
On August 4 final yr, her father Neville Thomson was mauled to dying by vicious dogs owned by a good friend who was boarding at his home at Puketawa Rd in Panguru.
However, each police and impartial investigations into his dying have left his whānau with extra questions than solutions.
“I wish I could say that we have gained some sort of peace but after a yearlong struggle of trauma we are still waiting to know what really happened on that day,” Moore stated.
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The tragedy flipped the lives the other way up of those that knew Thomson nicely, together with her and his two sons Tama and Te Ahu.
Even as she tries her finest to maneuver ahead with life, working her business and elevating her 12-year-old daughter in Coromandel, Moore typically waits for a phone name from police in Hokianga.
“They told us that we would be updated throughout their investigation, but they didn’t.”
The final update she acquired – months in the past – was that police had been working with their authorized workforce to arrange some expenses in opposition to the canine proprietor. However, nothing was set in stone.
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Since then, each try to get a solution about her father’s dying has been met with almost an similar line of reply: “We are still collecting all the information.”
When the Advocate requested police for an update, a spokesperson stated they had been nonetheless reviewing the knowledge gathered from their investigation.
“At this stage, no arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing,” the spokesperson stated.
Moore didn’t conceal her disappointment with the progress of the investigation.
“I have been in touch with the Far North police, who keep telling me about having other cases and limited resources,” she stated. “And this is where we are finding it difficult.
“That a certain dog owner was responsible for his dogs, which killed a person. But nothing has happened and it just doesn’t sound fair to me. I feel helpless.”
Although she didn’t know her father’s good friend, she was conscious that he had sought refuge, together with his dogs, a month earlier than the tragedy.
Thomson initially felt sorry for the person and requested him to house-sit till he returned from a three-week journey to pay respects to his useless father.
On his return, he was shocked to search out greater than 25 dogs, largely puppies, on his property after considered one of his good friend’s bitches turned pregnant.
On the day of his dying, Thomson expressed his displeasure concerning the state of affairs to considered one of his good associates throughout a telephone name and clarified that he wished all of them gone, Moore stated.
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“But suddenly, he put down the phone and went out and that’s when it all happened.”
It wasn’t till that afternoon that she acquired a name from her younger brother Tama.
“I was doing afterschool with children when my phone kept on ringing. When I excused myself and picked up the call my brother was in hysterics saying, ‘Dad’s dead’.”
“I went blank and felt that I couldn’t breathe.”
The identical night time her brothers picked her up they usually travelled to her father’s place, arriving the following morning.
“One of the lady police officers over there escorted us to the hospital morgue where our father’s body lay.
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“When I asked her if we could dress our father, the officer broke down in tears and said we could not.”
On seeing his physique, she noticed that part of his head was swollen, implying he landed on his face, whereas the remainder of his physique “seemed like something that came out from a horror movie”.
But what bothers her is that her household nonetheless do not need a transparent image of what really occurred that day.
“Where was that certain dog owner when this took place and what did he do to stop it? Then there is the timeframe: if my father died around 10.30am, why did emergency services arrive long after lunchtime?
“I could go on with more speculations … but all I want is closure.”
While Tama was taking good care of their father’s home, she was taking care of considered one of Thomson’s dogs, named Fergus.
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“I can see how it has impacted him as well. I even feel for those untrained dogs who attacked and so would my father, who loved animals. It’s their trainer who is at fault.”
This Father’s Day, Moore lit up a candle in reminiscence of her dad, who was identified to be everybody’s finest good friend and “a good fella”.
Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency providers reporter on the Advocate. He was beforehand on the Gisborne Herald as the humanities and setting reporter and is obsessed with overlaying tales that may make a distinction. He joined NZME in July 2023.
