Shark victim's family flies home

The family of shark attack victim Alysha Webster board their Air Vanuatu flight in Port Vila. Picture / Kenny Rodger

It was probably the longest journey of their lives.

Grant and Sheree Webster and their children Jessica and James returned home yesterday to the rural community of Whenuakite in the Coromandel, their lives torn apart by the death of daughter Alysha, killed in a shark attack last week off the coast of Vanuatu.

Before they boarded the flight in Port Vila, 7-year-old Alysha's body was loaded into the 737-300 for its final journey before Tuesday's "farewell service" at Cooks Beach. At Whenuakite they went to Mr Webster's parents' house, where friends and family had gathered. Flowers and a candle had been left at a private road leading to the Websters' home.

Douglas Hamilton, whose grandson went to school with Alysha said: "It's affected everyone in this area... I can't fathom it."

A friend of the family, who would not be named, said the couple, already struggling to cope, had dismissed reports they were warned off swimming before the shark attack happened.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY