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A Dunedin city councillor has apologised to the family of slain teenager Enere McLaren-Taana for her role in organising a public vigil against their wishes.
Enere, 16, a pupil at Trinity Catholic College, died after being stabbed at the Dunedin bus hub on May 23.
About a week later, the Dunedin City Council scheduled a public vigil for Enere to be held in the Octagon.
On the morning of the vigil, the council updated its social media posts to clarify that Enere’s whanau would “not be present or speaking at the vigil” as previously stated and apologised for any misunderstanding.
But later in the afternoon, hours before the vigil was scheduled to begin, the council cancelled the vigil entirely.
The council initially declined to answer detailed questions about the vigil.
But the reasons why it was cancelled at the last minute are made clear in emails released to the Otago Daily Times under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act
The emails show Cr Marie Laufiso was tasked with liaising with Enere’s whanau, but on the day of the event she acknowledged she had “stuffed up” by not meeting Enere’s parents directly. Source
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/councillor-sorry-vigil-%E2%80%98stuff-%E2%80%99
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