The former boss of Women's Refuge is mourning the loss of a distant relative in an apparent domestic incident in the Bay of Plenty at the weekend.
Thirty-eight-year-old Luana "Arni" Raukawa, was found dead at her home in Kaingaroa, 50km southeast of Rotorua, about 10.15pm on Friday.
A 33-year-old man, who shared a home with the mother of six, appeared before Rotorua District Court on Saturday, charged with assault.
He was remanded in custody to reappear on Wednesday. Police said he would likely face more serious charges.
Ms Raukawa was distantly related to Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, former Women's Refugee chief executive who said it was "absolutely tragic" for her own family members to have lost a loved one in these circumstances.
"It's always very, very sad. We've got to look at the environment in the homes where these murders are happening -- who's challenging these behaviours?" she told The Dominion Post
"There are always cues. This hasn't just come out of the blue."
Shop owners Pat Hitua and Pam Kaitapanui, where Ms Raukawa worked casually, said they were shocked to hear of her death.
"She would come in and give us a hand -- she was good with the customers.
"She was fun, a lovely person and we'll miss her," they said
Rotorua area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said the death was another tragedy in an area which had seen too much sadness in the last year.
It had also closely followed White Ribbon Day, on Wednesday, where people were encouraged to wear a white ribbon to show they did not condone violence towards women.
"Less than 48 hours after the close of White Ribbon Day we have experienced another terrible case of family violence, resulting in the needless death of a woman.
"We have to keep working together to break the cycle of family violence. Although some wonderful work has been done in recent years to both raise awareness of the problem and improve the level of response from the agencies working in this area, we still clearly have a long way to go."
Family violence was "not OK" and people needed to say "no" to it, he said.
"Saying `no' means working up the courage to take positive action whenever and wherever you come across family violence. You have to take sides. Neutrality only ever helps the offender, never the victim."
