A 46-year-old woman has been arrested over the destruction of 16 headstones with a sledgehammer at a family urupa in Raupunga.
Police confirmed the arrest this morning after the headstones were found destroyed on Saturday, May 19.
Around one fifth of the headstones in the family urupa, in northern Hawke's Bay, were found smashed.
Distressed relatives and the local community are working to clean up the cemetery and repair the destroyed headstones.
A Givealittle page has been set up to help fund the repairs to the headstones.
Heartbreak for loved ones
Kaye Wesley told 1 NEWS she was "just absolutely devastated" after she stopped by the cemetery at 9am Saturday while travelling to Wairoa for a cousin's tangi.
"Your wairua [spirit] is just gone. It's like we've got to bury them again.
"I can't understand the mental state of a person [who'd do it] , urupa are tapu," Ms Wesley said.
Kaye Wesley said her brother's grave was one of the 16 smashed, but every second burial site had some form of damage such as broken flower vases.
"By the time I got to his grave I was a mess. I just started crying."
The decision was made to make the video public – after only being posted on a family Facebook page – because of large numbers of relations living in Australia.
Her own extended Waihape whanau had decided to get a quote to fix all of the headstones together.
"We can't fix ours and not anyone else's."
She said the whanau had been overwhelmed with support, including a group setting up a Givealittle page to help pay for the damage.
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