Whangarei fatal shooting: Friends of Yvonne Chapman share their heartbreak

Yvonne Chapman was shot dead at Beach Road Reserve in Onerahi, Whangarei, on February 27.

• Yvonne Chapman was shot dead at Beach Road Reserve in Whangārei on Thursday, February 27.
• A critically-injured 63-year-old man has been charged with her murder.
• Her longtime friend Brett Lendich regrets not being able to save her.

Brett Lendich, 67, says he wishes he could have taken a bullet for Yvonne Chapman, who was shot and killed two weeks ago in a neighbourhood park.

The retired painter from Northland says he met Chapman when they were teenagers who fell in love: he played rugby for Kaitaia College and Chapman would travel 30km from the family farm in Mangamuka to watch him play.

Eventually the distance got too much, the pair broke up and didn’t see each other for 50 years - but Lendich still calls her the love of his life.

“Yvonne was a beautiful person,” he said.

“We had a special bond and loved each other. She has been close to my heart ever since we were kids.

“I had no idea her life was in danger - I wish I had been there to take a bullet for her. It’s unfathomable how someone could do that - the way she died was so violent, I couldn’t do that to a dog,” Lendich told the Herald.

Nine months ago, the pair had reconnected in a chance encounter, when Chapman saw the name ‘Lendich’ on the side of a truck in Whangārei.

She asked the female driver if she was related to Brett. The woman, his daughter, replied, ‘He’s my dad.’

Yvonne Chapman, in March 2022.

Chapman was the mother of three sons who have paid tribute to her as a “beloved mother”.

She lived in Whangārei, and worked part-time at Archibald Cars driving vehicles from Auckland to Whangārei and Kerikeri.

When she was in the North she’d meet Lendich for coffee, or they would walk on the beach and collect tuatua together.

“Yvonne was beautiful as ever. You know, I got married and had other relationships, but she stuck in my heart, my whole life” he said

Gunshots were heard at Beach Road Reserve about 11.10am on February 27. Chapman was found dead at the scene when police arrived.

A few days later on March 4, a severely-injured 63-year-old man in Auckland Hospital was charged at his bedside with killing Chapman.

The alleged gunman is accused of shooting her in Whangarei. For legal reasons, the Herald cannot name him.

Kim Baigent, 68, and Yvonne Chapman, 66, were childhood school friends whose bond proved lifelong.

Kim Baigent (left) and Yvonne Chapman were childhood school friends who remained close.

The single mothers had recently semi-retired and loved being on the road together in their campervans, exploring the countryside and getting into mischief.

“We were mischievous and had fun until the day Yvonne died,” Baigent told the Herald.

“I haven’t fully processed she’s gone. She was my oldest lifetime friend, we were inseparable, two peas in a pod. She loved everyone and everyone loved her,” she said.

Baigent said Chapman had recently moved house. She was “at peace and happy”.

Left to right: Kim Baigent (in hat) and Yvonne Chapman seated at right.

Baigent - a truck driver and chef - also knows the gunman.

She described him as a “deep thinker and kind” and a talented technician who could fix anything.

“He was very kind to me,” she said.

Yvonne Chapman (left) and Kim Baigent loved travelling together in their campervans.

This week Baigent moved into the new home in Northland that Chapman helped her find.

“It’s bittersweet, Yvonne was with me when I bought the house, she was going to buy a property close to me. She loved her three sons and her six grandchildren.”

Baigent had only recently met Brett Lendich. “Yvonne told me he is ‘soft and sweet’,” she said.

Lendich didn’t attend Chapman’s funeral but watched it online with his best mate by his side. He says his life has been upended.

“It’s traumatic being at home, I see Yvonne everywhere, on the couch, lying on the bed or in the kitchen cooking. She was the love of my life back then and I love her to this day.”

Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards in 2022. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007-2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.