Mum Adele Hoeta and tamariki Angelo (6) show just how easy it was to climb over their back fence and get on to State Highway 1 just metres above the property. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Mum Adele Hoeta and tamariki Angelo (6) show just how easy it was to climb over their back fence and get on to State Highway 1 just metres above the property. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Kāinga Ora (Housing New Zealand) has apologised to a Whangārei woman and her whānau for not fixing a broken fence for almost two years which enabled her 6-year-old to escape on to State Highway 1 multiple times.
Adele Hoeta, 30, lives in Raumanga with her four tamariki (children) - Angelo,6, Kylah-Rose, 4, Aiden, 3, and Kaleb, 9 months. A wooden fence borders the back of their Kāinga Ora-owned property.
The fence, which is only metres from State Highway 1, is clearly rotten - causing it to tip forward. Planks running along the fence facing the property enabled Hoeta's eldest Angelo - who has multiple mental health conditions - to climb the fence, scale a small bank and reach the road.
Whangārei mother of four Adele Hoeta. Photo / File
Despite Hoeta's best efforts, Angelo had jumped the fence three times in the 18 months the whānau had lived at the property. On one occasion, Angelo's brother Aiden followed him.
Since moving in to the property, she had hounded Kāinga Ora to fix the fence. However, Hoeta's cries for help fell on deaf ears. She soon believed it would have to take her son being hit by a car to get any action.
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The Ministry of Education added credibility to Hoeta's urgency in a 2019 letter which asked Kāinga Ora to make sure the property was safe, given Angelo's conditions.
It wasn't until the Northern Advocate reached out to Kāinga Ora in early January on Hoeta's behalf that the housing agency realised it had failed to follow up on Hoeta's repeated calls for help.
Kāinga Ora Northland/Whangārei area manager Linda Barrie confirmed the process of fixing Hoeta's fence had been started - but was not followed through due to a change of ownership of an adjoining property, Covid-19, a Kāinga Ora employee resigning and a reshape of the whole organisation's structure.
However, she was quick to apologise on behalf of the housing agency, acknowledging that no reason excused such a delay.
"I've personally apologised to Adele for the delay in the rear fence and will follow this up in writing," Barrie said.
"There was fencing but while we don't know when he gained the ability to try and get over the existing fence into the neighbour's property, that doesn't matter. We should have got that new, higher fence built when Adele first asked us."
Kāinga Ora Northland/Whangārei area manager Linda Barrie. Photo / Adam Pearse
A new fence would be installed in the coming weeks, alongside measures outlined in the agency's Driveway Safety programme, such as a fenced play area separate from the driveway that was visible and accessible from living areas.
"Kāinga Ora is working with Adele and her whānau to make an even more secure property for them," Barrie said.
"This will include keeping her son much safer but also take into account the family's younger children as they get older."
Hoeta said she appreciated the apology, given the stress the ordeal had caused.
