New Zealand IRAENA TE RAMA AWHINA ASHER: Missing from Piha, New Zealand - 11 Oct 2004

Wikipedia Disappearance of Iraena Asher - Wikipedia

Iraena Te Rama Awhina Asher (born 17 July 1979) was an Auckland trainee teacher and model who disappeared in controversial circumstances at Piha, a West Auckland beach, on 11 October 2004.


Disappearance: At 9 p.m. on 10 October, Asher called the New Zealand Police using the 1-1-1 emergency telephone number, from Piha, expressing fears for her safety.
Although a patrol car could have been made available to attend this incident, police decided to call a taxi for Asher to pick her up. Although a taxi was dispatched, it went to the wrong street in Onehunga, on the other side of the metropolis from Piha. Asher was later found wandering the streets by a Piha couple, Julia Woodhouse and Bobbie Carroll, who took her into their home for several hours. At 1:10 a.m., she left their home and was subsequently seen by others, semi-clad, walking towards the beach. She ran off before she could be approached. This was the last known sighting of her. Asher's family told police that she suffered from bipolar disorder.
In May 2005, Asher's family held a memorial service for her, telling mourners that if police had responded properly to her emergency call, she might be alive today. Her parents, Betty and Mike Asher, are considering bringing a lawsuit against theNew Zealand Police. An inquest into her disappearance began on 17 July 2012. The police investigation into her disappearance found that she most likely drowned. During the inquest, the coroner criticised Woodhouse and Carroll for not calling the police themselves, but the High Court subsequently cleared the couple of any wrongdoing.


MEDIA - IRAENA TE RAMA AWHINA ASHER: Missing from Piha, New Zealand - 11 Oct 2004

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Missing without a trace: Six people lost forever at West Auckland paradise

Quentin. Iraena. Cherie. Kim. Laurence. Eloi. They are six people who never met but are connected forever because of where they vanished into thin air. Pih

www.newstalkzb.co.nz

Missing without a trace: Six people lost forever at West Auckland paradise​

28 Jan 2024

Quentin. Iraena. Cherie. Kim. Laurence. Eloi.

They are six people who never met but are connected forever because of where they vanished into thin air.

Piha Beach is a jewel in the crown of Auckland’s landscape - and the scene of some of the most curious and tragic unsolved disappearances.

Iraena Asher - October 12, 2004​

On October 11 Asher, 25, travelled to Piha with her new boyfriend and his mate, arriving at the latter’s house about 9am.

She left soon after, walking about 4km to the beach and that’s when things seemed to unravel for her.

At 11.30am a family visiting the area saw Asher sitting on the sand crying, noting she looked “spaced out” and appeared lost.

They offered her a ride home but she refused. She was acting strangely and making odd comments about people keeping things from her.

Asher returned to her boyfriend’s mate’s house wet, covered in sand and upset.

They said over the next few hours she repeatedly took her clothes off and behaved “seductively”.

The men said she smoked some cannabis but denied she took - or was given - any other drugs.

Eventually Asher was put to bed on a couch - but about 10 minutes after everyone else went to bed, she walked out into the night.

At 9pm a distressed Asher made a call to 111 that is now infamous.

Instead of sending a patrol car to Piha to assess whether the woman needed help, police called a taxi for her.

It never arrived and it would later emerge it had been sent to the wrong address.

Asher was picked up by local woman Julia Woodhouse and her son.

They said she went from hallucinating to being “quite lucid”.

They took her home and, with Woodhouse’s partner Bobbie Carroll, warmed her up and gave her food before trying to put her to bed on a couch in the lounge.

Five minutes later she left, walking back into the stormy night wearing only a dressing gown.

At 2am Asher was seen by a couple out walking their dog.

She was naked and standing under a street light. She spoke to the light before kissing the ground and walking towards the beach.

The couple followed her, worried.

They saw her for the last time under the last light on the street. Then, she was gone.

After that there was no sign of Asher.

For years her family searched for - and demanded - answers.

Where was their beloved daughter and sister? No one could ever work it out.

In 2012 an inquest was held and Coroner Peter Ryan declared Asher had died that night in Piha.

He determined her death was accidental, that she had most likely walked into the surf, been swept out to sea and drowned.

The Coroner was critical of those who had the last contact with Asher, saying her death could have been prevented if Woodhouse and Carroll and the police made better decisions that night.

Later then-Chief High Court Judge Justice Helen Winkelmann quashed the Coroner’s ruling, saying his criticism of Woodhouse and Carroll was “unreasonable, as it had no proper evidential foundation” and it “was based upon speculation as to a possible outcome if events had occurred differently”.