Editorial: Shocking start to the year in Bay

Photo / Thinkstock

It has been a shocking week in the Bay with police conducting inquiries into two separate deaths - one in Woodville and the other in Napier.

The Woodville man, believed to be in his late 40s, died on Sunday afternoon, while a 69-year-old woman died on January 2, after allegedly being assaulted five days earlier.

A woman has been arrested and charged with assaulting her and we understand further details regarding the case are expected to be released by police today.

In the Woodville case, police officers were talking to several people of interest but were not holding anyone in custody by the time we went to press last night.

Obviously there are police inquiries under way so we cannot comment or speculate on why or how these two people died in such tragic circumstances.

Violent deaths like this are always traumatic on the families and they do affect communities as a whole.

At a time of year when people should be relaxed and enjoying the summer, two families are going through needless pain and suffering.

We send our condolences to those families and hope they eventually get closure to the deaths of their loved ones.

Let's just trust that the police are able to get to the bottom of what happened in both cases, so that justice may be served. Investigations like this take time and require support and input from the community, so it is vital that anyone who knows anything about these deaths or the circumstances surrounding them tell the police.

It is important for the message to be put out so that the value of a life in this country is priceless and anyone who robs another person of the right to grow old will be punished.