Editorial: Baby Kahu child of the nation

Humanity is wonderful to behold. Over the eight days of the disappearance of baby Kahurautete Durie this country displayed its humanity in abundance. The parents of baby Kahu were, as every report mentioned, prominent Maori figures. Her mother, a lawyer, is leading a land claim for much of the central North Island forests. That was a fact to be taken into account in conjecture about the motive for the crime. But it played no part in the public response to the plight of parents and baby.

Everywhere people were talking about the horror of what had happened and sharing the anguish of Donna Hall and Justice Eddie Durie during those eight days. It was a nightmare any parent could share, and as the days passed it seemed all too likely it would not have a happy ending.

The news yesterday brought a national sigh of relief. The joy on the faces of the successful detectives was not the grim satisfaction of men who had made an arrest; it was the intoxicating pleasure of finding the baby alive and handing her back to her family.

Kidnapping is not a familiar offence in this country. With no early contact from the kidnapper the police had to appeal for public help and try to talk through the media to those holding the baby. They faced the sometimes conflicting needs of public information and the need to beware of the effect on the offender of everything they said. It may turn out to be to their credit that the baby has apparently been well fed and cared for her during the ordeal.

Public information matters, too. It turns out that three days into the abduction a ransom demand was made. Presumably it was accompanied by some sort of warning because the police chose not to make it known. At that point they possibly should have ceased to say whether they had heard from the kidnappers. A vague explanation would have been preferable to a misleading denial. However, the police must have been acutely aware that any slip could cost Baby Kahu's life.

The police deserve nothing but praise for the happy outcome. The story of their detective work has yet to be fully told but it must have been a delicate operation. Having located the house where the baby was being held, they seem to have bided their time on Sunday waiting to swoop on the occupant. They must have assured themselves that the baby was comfortable and in no danger during their swoop. But much has still to be explained.

The case is now before the courts. The country must wait to know what was behind this strange abduction in broad daylight when a mother was out walking her baby in a quiet suburban street. The $3 million ransom demanded, the largest New Zealand has seen, sounds audacious in the extreme. Its payment had to be approved at the highest levels of the Government and, quite rightly, it was. We can all be thankful that it did not have to be handed over.

It is even possible to hope that the public outpouring of warmth and concern for this child had an effect on the person or people who were holding her. There is no point in further conjecture. The rest of the story has still to unfold in the criminal courts. But the human story has reached its happy conclusion. It has united the country for an anxious eight days and, now that the baby appears to have come to no harm, we can celebrate that the experience has drawn us closer together.

Justice Durie and Donna Hall are critical figures in the resolution of post-colonial problems in this country. Their baby daughter is now a special citizen, too, in her own way. Her growth and progress will be reported from time to time, and whatever social issues arise she will be a reminder that when it comes down to the bedrock of life we are all human.

Full coverage: Baby Kahu kidnapping


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