At 9pm on Sunday 10 October 2004, 25 year old Iraena Asher rang 111 from a house on Piha Road. She said she was afraid, that a man was pressuring her for sex, and that she had been given drugs. Police sent a taxi, which went to the wrong side of Auckland. A local family took her in for four hours. Just after 1am she walked out into a stormy night, and she was last seen naked under a streetlight, walking down Seaview Road towards the beach. A coroner found she went into the sea and drowned, and that the police failure to send a car contributed. Her body has never been found, and nobody saw her beyond the second streetlight.
IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING
If you were at Piha on the night of 10 to 11 October 2004, stayed at the Piha camp ground that weekend, or know anything about Iraena's last day or her disappearance, please contact:
Police non emergency: 105, or online at police.govt.nz
Crime Stoppers (anonymous): 0800 555 111, crimestoppers-nz.org
A NOTE ON SOURCING
The heart of this episode is the Police Complaints Authority report of 18 January 2006, which includes transcripts of Iraena's calls with police, and the High Court judgment Carroll v Coroner's Court at Auckland [2013] NZHC 906, which reproduces parts of Coroner Peter Ryan's 2012 findings. The full coronial findings were not available online and were not obtained.
Nobody has ever been charged in connection with Iraena's disappearance, and the coroner found no evidence of foul play. The people at the Piha Road house are not named in this episode, and some witnesses at the inquest had name suppression. Nothing in this episode suggests wrongdoing by anyone at that house.
In 2013 the High Court quashed the coroner's finding that Julia Woodhouse, Bobbie Carroll and Henry Woodhouse contributed to her death, finding it rested on speculation. The findings that Iraena drowned and that the police failure contributed still stand.
Some details, including where the taxi went and accounts of the inquest evidence, come from contemporaneous reporting in the NZ Herald, Stuff and RNZ.
SOURCES
Police Complaints Authority, report on the 111 call made by Iraena Asher, 18 Jan 2006 (ipca.govt.nz)
Carroll v Coroner's Court at Auckland [2013] NZHC 906, 29 Apr 2013 (coronerscourt.govt.nz)
NZ Police media releases, 12 to 28 Oct and 30 Nov 2004, 28 Feb 2005, 3 Jan 2023
Communications Centres Service Centre Independent External Review, May 2005
NZ Herald, Juliet Rowan, 15 Nov 2004; Anna Leask, 17 and 19 Jul 2012; Phil Taylor, 20 Sep 2019
Stuff, Kirsty Johnston, 18 Jul 2012
RNZ, 17 and 19 Jul 2012; 29 Apr 2013; Sam Olley, 16 Jan 2023
NZ Listener, Sarah Catherall, 22 Jan 2024
SUPPORT
This episode discusses mental illness, a disappearance, sexual pressure and drowning. If it has raised anything for you:
1737, free call or text, any time
Safe to Talk (sexual harm): 0800 044 334
Alcohol Drug Helpline: 0800 787 797
Youthline: 0800 376 633
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