The sister of a missing Waikato 17-year-old says it’s out-of-character for Whetu Bennett to run away without keeping in contact with whānau.
Janet Jones said she was distraught at her “baby sister’s” disappearance from outside an Auckland mall at midday on Tuesday.
Whetu grew up in Te Awamutu and had been living with her mother in Morrinsville before moving to Auckland three weeks ago with her 28-year-old boyfriend.
Speaking to RNZ from Auckland on Sunday, where the family was gathering to search for Whetu, Jones said the couple had been in a relationship for more than two years.
“They were going to start a life up here and they were both looking for work. Their aim was to move up here, get a home and get a job and start a life together.”
She said the pair were living together in Kelston but on the day Whetu went missing they did not go home together from LynnMall where they’d been shopping.
“He’s [Whetu’s boyfriend] told me… they went out in the morning and around lunchtime they had an argument outside of the mall so he said he has gotten on the bus to go home to take the stuff home and Whetu went a separate way to what he went to, and that was the last time he seen her is when he got on the bus and she walked in a different direction.”
Whetu’s phone broke recently, Jones said, and before she vanished she’d been using her partner’s phone to contact whānau.
“He’s just as distraught as we are. He’s been really assistant with me in trying to locate [her]. He’s been out there every day walking around the New Lynn mall, catching buses, looking down streets, looking at parks, all of that.
“Yesterday he and his son were out there going to the mall, asking if police had been in contact with them for the [CCTV] footage and if they’ve seen Whetu come back around and showing photos and stuff to shops.”
Jones said Whetu had been a stepmother to her partner’s 7-year-old son, who was staying with his mother when Whetu disappeared.
The day after the argument Whetu’s partner contacted the teen’s mother in Morrinsville to inform her that her daughter was missing.
Police were alerted on Wednesday and Jones was contacted by her mother on Thursday morning, she said.
Jones said Whetu ran away once to a friend’s house for three days but kept in constant contact with whānau and this disappearance was out-of-character.
She was concerned that Whetu was reportedly “distressed” at the time she was last seen. At the time Whetu was wearing a beige top, a black dress and sunglasses.
Jones understood it was a 30-minute walk home for Whetu from the mall and the teenager also had access to money.
“I had asked him [Whetu’s partner] if he could check the bank account to see if the money’s been used but he can’t check it so I said maybe we could pass that onto the police to see if she used her account.”
Whānau travelled to Auckland to begin their own search and were hopeful of finding Whetu with another sibling in South Auckland, she said.
Jones, 37, was the eldest of 10 children and Whetu was number eight – the youngest daughter – and Jones said she helped to raise her.
“We’re going to have a meeting – a hui – to see what we can do to go forward, as we don’t know what to do.”
She described Whetu as a very creative person.
“She was just really bubbly. She loved babies, she loved all her nieces and nephews. She just loved being around family.
“We come from a family of Christians so they’ve all been praying for us and praying for Whetu to come home safe, but because we’re on day six now they’re getting so worried that they’re just coming up to Auckland now because it’s been too long.”
Jones told police about a possible sighting inside the mall at 12.38pm that she was alerted to on social media, but police said Sunday morning there was no update in the case.
A spokesperson said police reviewing CCTV footage was one avenue of inquiry.
They have appealed for anyone who knows Whetu’s whereabouts to contact police on 105.
rnz.co.nz
