Clothing Range Launched To Raise Money For NZ Woman Allegedly Set On Fire In Brisbane

Thursday, 23 January 2025, 4:29 pm
Article: RNZ

Finn Blackwell, Reporter

A Māori clothing designer in Australia has launched a range of clothes to raise money for a New Zealand woman who was allegedly set on fire in her own home.

Destiny Otton-Rakuraku is in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital after an attack on Saturday morning.

The 36-year-old accused appeared in court earlier this week charged with attempted murder.

Police in Brisbane said the man had also been charged with one count each of common assault and breach of domestic violence, with police opposed to the man's bail.

Friends and family packed the courtroom, 9News reported.

Defence solicitors did not make an application for bail.

Owner of Queensland clothing brand Rongo-ā-Tahu, Kassidy Pupuo says she met Otton-Rakuraku's mother, Alison, in 2015 through te reo lessons."

She described to RNZ the moment she saw her on the news.

"It was kind of like a real throat punch meke, when we saw her face on the news," she said.

"We had to do a double take and rewind it... We were like 'Wow, that's just not okay'."

Pupuo said seeing her on the news activated something in her to want to help.

She reached out to Linda Munn, one of the last surviving designers of the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, to seek permission to use the flags design on the clothes.

"We were able to share a kōrero about her experience as well with domestic violence, and also just knowing the whakapapa behind the kara.

"Whaea Linda's been quite verbal in terms of the Tino kara is not for profit, it's for the betterment of our people, and so my whakaaro was 'Well, this is a huge pandemic that plagues our culture no matter where we go in the world'.

"What better way than to put anything that is made from this kaupapa into being able to support this whānau right now, who are going to go through the most challenging time of their lives, but also once they're set up [...] is being able to give back to the kaupapa that are here, particularly in Queensland, that are focussed on our whānau Māori."

It is alleged Otton-Rakuraku, originally from Auckland, was involved in an altercation with a man at her home in Kingston - about 26km south of Brisbane - on Saturday morning.

The 36-year-old man - who Australian media has identified as Renata Manning - allegedly doused her in petrol, before producing a lighter and setting her on fire.

The Courier Mail reported neighbours saw her on fire and ran to her aid.

Kassidy Pupuo said what happened sparked wider questions.

"The questions of 'Why are our tamariki being subject to this?', 'Why are our tane doing this to our wahine?', 'Why are our whānau caught in this continuous cycle?'

"Those questions often lead to kōrero about services failing to meet the needs of our people, and it's in moments like this where we see the reality, or the hīnātore, that the systems that we rely on, or the Westminster system, it doesn't work for us as Māori."

Pupo said that system did not address the layers of intergenerational trauma that went back to colonisation.

The new clothing line, which bears the Tino Rangatiratanga on it, had already had more than 150 orders in the first 24 hours of coming online, she said.

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