Community mourns murdered US student Kyle Whorrall

More than 60 people gathered at a memorial and fundraising event today for American PhD student Kyle Whorrall, who was fatally attacked at an Auckland bus stop last month.

Whorrall, 33, was attacked at a bus stop on St Johns Road in Meadowbank on 19 April, and died from his injuries in hospital.

A 16-year-old youth has been charged with murder and aggravated robbery, and a 32 year-old woman has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Dozens of members of the community, local businesses, Whorrall's friends and his mother Carole Whorrall attended the event at a local restaurant, which was organised to celebrate the 'essence' of Whorrall and to provide support to his family.

A letter penned by Whorrall's sister Heather was read out in a speech at the event.

Her letter said Whorrall was born and raised in California, and shortly after he learned to walk, he had started exploring the outdoors, and was always looking for bugs and turning stones.

When Whorrall was 13 years old, he went on a month-long trip to Australasia with his mother and two sisters, and visited Australia, New Zealand and Fiji for the first time. He was the youngest member of an entomology club, a student volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and volunteered for Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots NGO.

During his studies, he travelled to Peru for a few weeks to collect spiders, six of which were newly-discovered species.

Whorrall loved the flora and fauna of New Zealand, and at the time of his death was three months away from submitting his PhD thesis.

He was a passionate, intelligent and caring person, his sister said.

"He will always be a part of New Zealand."

The Meadow restaurant was decorated with many pictures and artwork of bugs made by children from local schools, in memory of Whorrall.

Gina Henry, who owns the restaurant and helped organise the event, said she wanted to do something for Whorrall's family in these hard times.

"He was just a part of our community, he was a beautiful man, and he shouldn't go home the way he's going home tomorrow - he should be going home as a PhD student, graduating in a few months," she said.

Henry said she posted to Facebook to reach out to the community to brainstorm, and people thought a "silent auction" would be a great way to support the family with the costs of the funeral and their travels.

Henry said nearly 40 businesses had contributed gifts and vouchers to the fundraiser.

"Everything from bottles of wine, to olive oil, to beauty vouchers, everybody's just really come to the party, and just wants to be part of something bigger, I think that's the whole reason why we're here is just we're something bigger, we're a community of people that just want to reach out," she said.

Deputy mayor Desley Simpson also attended the event and offered condolences to Whorrall's mother.

In a speech, Simpson said she wanted the family to leave New Zealand knowing that the community has reached out with love and support.