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Roof over her head in 36 hours
Saturday, November 10, 2012 • Sophie Rishworth
SUPPORT is starting to flow in for a young Gisborne woman after she lost everything she owned in a house fire in Kaiti this week.

By yesterday morning, Housing New Zealand had already given Terangi Winitana keys to her new home, while possessions and furniture had also started to roll in.

She is grateful to have a roof over her head so quickly.

“I wanted to cry . . . but I had been crying all day, so I was all out of tears,” she said.

Police now suspect the fire was arson.

No one was home when fire broke out at the Lyell Road house about 10.30pm on Wednesday night.

Miss Winitana had lived in the Housing New Zealand house for about four years. It is now uninhabitable.

The 23-year-old said she returned home on Wednesday night, after a five to 10-minute car trip to drop off a friend, to find her whole house in flames.

Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Scott said the fire occurred shortly after an altercation involving a visitor to the property and they believe it was deliberately lit.

Miss Winitana is pregnant with her sixth child. She had lived at the last house with her one-year-old son while her four older children live with her mother.
NEW START: Possession and clothes are starting to trickle in for Terangi Winitana who lost everything she owned in a house fire on Wednesday night. She is pictured in front of her new home, which Housing New Zealand organised for her the next day. Police believe the fire at her last house was deliberately lit. Picture by Dave Thomas
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