KEY POINTS:
The body of Tina Marshall-McMenamin, which was taken by her father to her ancestral land on the East Coast, has been exhumed and the cremated ashes returned to her maternal family.
The Weekend Herald understands that Ms Marshall-McMenamin's body was exhumed from her grave on whanau land in Rangitukia yesterday after the two families reached an agreement out of court.
The amicable conclusion comes after a hearing at the High Court at Wellington was called off this week as the two families tried to resolve their differences.
The negotiator for Ms Marshall-McMenamin's Lower Hutt family and her fiance, Daryl Cox, left Gisborne this week and returned to Wellington.
Her paternal grandfather, Charlie McMenamin, did not want to comment when spoken to by the Weekend Herald yesterday.
"It's really not quite the time right now, I really don't want to talk about it at all," he said. "Please leave us alone."
Other members of the McMenamin whanau, who have consistently maintained a low profile throughout the drama, did not return calls and the family's lawyer, Allan Hall, also could not be contacted for comment.
The 25-year-old Ms Marshall-McMenamin died of a drug overdose nearly two weeks ago.
The dispute arose after her father drove off with her body from a Lower Hutt funeral home on Tuesday, December 11, and buried her on whanau land the next day.
Ms Marshall-McMenamin's mother and fiance sought to have her body returned and to continue with their own funeral arrangements, which included having Ms Marshall-McMenamin cremated.
In an earlier interview, Charlie McMenamin told the Herald his whanau was "always willing to act within the law" but wanted his granddaughter to be buried with dignity.
