Latest news with #TipeneFunerals
1News
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- 1News
'It tested us' – the Tipenes on pain, joy and a new series
Francis and Kaiora Tipene on harsh times, the cure for anger, the joy of tamariki, Paris, Tonga and their new series of The Casketeers which premieres Wednesday. The Tipenes were in Paris, just the two of them, on a romantic trip with no work, no camera crew, not one of their seven children present. But by day three, Francis Tipene wanted to leave. 'It had been a 36-hour flight to get there,' says his wife, Kaiora. 'We hadn't even been there two nights and he started to pine for our daughter. He said, 'let's go back to our kids'. And so after a couple more days, they did. Francis agrees it was a long way to go, just to turn around. But after seven sons (he has one from a previous relationship, six with Kaiora), 'I finally got the daughter and man, that changed me.' Now almost two, Ngawaiata has just started Kōhanga reo. 'She was counting at 11 months,' says Francis. 'Tahi, rua... And English too. All these things just make all my problems go away.' ADVERTISEMENT Ah yep, problems. Since before Ngawaiata was born, the Tipenes have been dealing with big, dreadful, public problems. First stop is Tonga in the new series launching Wednesday, June 11. (Source: TVNZ) To recap: Last month their long-term employee at Tipene Funerals, Fiona Bakulich, was sent to prison for interfering with human remains and obtaining money by deception. The victims, all grieving families, were subjected to experiences ranging from the distressing (lifting the lid of a loved one's coffin to discover the metal lining they'd paid for was absent), to the financially gutting (Bakulich took a total of more than $16,000 from families, charging them for various bogus fees and fines as well as products, such as the metal liners, they didn't receive.) Fiona Bakulich, a former employee of Tipene Funerals (Source: 1News) The revelations of the trial were heavy, the coverage thorough and not always accurate (there were no bodies placed in rubbish bags). And while the Tipenes grappled with a sense of betrayal from someone they'd considered a sister and a tuakana, they were also subjected to harsh scrutiny and public judgement themselves. Why hadn't they seen what was going on, checked for it, acted sooner? The media asked the questions and social media scrambled to provide the answers. The comments got ugly, says Kai. 'In a way it's a good thing. It's teaching me that I don't have to please everybody. If you see the show, my husband and I are all about people pleasing.' For a business and a TV brand built on light humour, deep respect and te ao Māori, the case was a lot to come back from. ADVERTISEMENT 'When it came to the process side of things, we knew how to deal with it,' says Kaiora. 'But when it came to the emotional side of it? Nah. As a couple, 'it certainly tested us," she says. "I hope at some point we look back and go yeah well that was one ugly phase..." Francis and Kaiora Tipene gave their first interview to TVNZ's Marae. (Source: Marae) 'When your business has been misconstrued in the public eye, you are judged and you start not liking yourself and it's easy to get lost,' she says. 'You start losing control of everything. How can I give to my staff and my tamariki if I'm not right? I could feel myself crumbling and going to the person who I lean on and he was crumbling... I thought, man one of us has got to keep it together or we're both going to fall.' Kaiora is driving and talking to 1News on the phone. Later we also talked to Francis, who was no less frank. The experience was his first real insight into depression, he says. 'I never thought I'd be one of those people, in bed, close the curtains, 'don't talk to me'. But when your face is plastered in the Herald for one week straight, it's like wow... ADVERTISEMENT Francis and Kaiora Tipene with some people they met in Vanuatu. (Source: TVNZ) 'I'm grateful that my wife is such a strong lady. I look back and I'm like, why wasn't I the one keeping us going? I failed. I was like, close the curtains, turn the light off. The traditional male role is to keep the family together – I know times are changing and I don't want to get into that argument – but the public shaming, the way it was reported, it was devastating.' Along with friends and whanau, it was the Tipene Funerals staff who saved Francis. 'My staff were like, 'why do you always go missing every time something [negative is written] about you? Forget it! You were the one who put yourself on TV. 'The staff were cruel but it was what I needed. Obviously, my wife was saying the same thing, but sometimes it takes someone else.' The power of a suit One day, after a month of lying around in shorts and a T-shirt, Francis felt the urge to put on a suit. 'Because I felt like a nothing. Then I also put my shoes on and thought, 'bugger it I'll drive to work'. At the funeral home there was a grieving family and Frances was asked to do a prayer. It made him feel human again. 'Because I'd been feeling like the devil, stuck at home in bed.' So their work as funeral directors continued, but what about the show? Would there be another season of the internationally successful Casketeers? ADVERTISEMENT There would. The seventh season launches on Wednesday and takes a fresh form with the Casketeers travelling around the world, learning how other cultures deal with death. For the emotionally struggling Tipenes, it was a tonic. 'The production company were so understanding,' says Kaiora. 'They'd say 'today's newspapers are tomorrow's fish 'n' chip papers!'.' Kaiora and Francis Tipene in Canada. (Source: Supplied) Canada, India, Vanuatu, Japan and – most meaningfully for Francis – Tonga. He'd never been there but his grandparents on his dad's side were both Tongan. And although he says the flavour of his upbringing leaned more Māori, the island of his ancestors felt familiar. 'It was eerily similar to the way I was brought up, up North, making do with what we had out in the yard. My kids don't do that, everyone is on the blimmin wi-fi...I had a nostalgic feeling watching the children making fun out of branches and bits of plastic. Everyone is so happy among all this... I wouldn't actually call it poverty, it looks poor to us, but they are happy and content, that's how I was as a kid. It felt like home.' 'The anger comes in my quiet times' Each time the Tipenes were about to head off with the TV crew for another three-week trip, leaving their six boys with trusted whanau and taking Ngawaiata with them, Francis would worry. 'You're always thinking, what is the point of this when all of this other stuff is going down? This mistake by one person has ruined us. But the minute we stepped onto the plane we forgot about it. You fly off and it's an adventure.' ADVERTISEMENT Then you fly home, and hell awaits? 'Oh yes,' says Francis. 'I'd hear 'prepare the cabin for landing', and I'd think, oh gosh, here we go.' Even now, he wrestles with uncomfortable emotions. The depression has gone but bouts of anger have taken its place. 'When you're made out to be someone you're not and you have to wait until it's all over for the truth to come out. The anger comes in my quiet times. I'm sitting there eating lunch and, oh, I'm angry again.' The cure, he says, is deep breaths and taking a walk. 'You think what the heck is a walk going to do? It does a lot.' And then there are the kids. 'They don't care, they've got basketball, rugby... that's helped us move forward.' Ngawaiata has been a beautiful distraction through most of the ordeal - she was born five weeks early in 2023, the evening her parents returned from a painful meeting with one of the families affected by Bakulich's crimes. 'When she arrived things had broken out and we knew what was going on,' says Francis. 'She was the light for us and she still is to this day.' ADVERTISEMENT The Casketeers: Life and Death Around the Globe, premieres 7.30pm, Wednesday, June 11, TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+.
Newsroom
14-05-2025
- Newsroom
Herald withdraws ‘scoop' finalist from awards after Tipene Funerals complaint
Leading news media firm NZME has withdrawn a journalist from the finalist list for Scoop of the Year at the national media awards after a legal complaint over coverage of Tipene Funerals. New Zealand Herald reporter Raphael Franks had been one of three finalists for the award to be announced at Friday night's Voyager Media Awards, but his name and entry covering the 'Tipene Funerals Scandal' is now deleted from the event's website. At the same time, 20 stories on the issue on the website have correction paragraphs added at the top, setting out changes made to the stories. The withdrawal of a journalism finalist from the media awards is rare, if unprecedented, particularly when linked to legal issues. The lateness of the withdrawal could indicate NZME recognised ongoing sensitivities if it had actually won the top prize. While Franks' personal entry has been withdrawn, his work on such a legally challenging story as the inquiry into a Tipene Funerals staff member's behaviour would have been guided, edited and vetted at higher levels of the Herald newsroom. It is likely the scoop of the year entry was submitted for judges' consideration before the belated legal complaint from the funeral home had been resolved. The Herald's corrections to the stories published between August 2024 and April this year relate to earlier wording about the actions of funeral home staffer Fiona Bakulich, convicted in April of interfering with human remains and obtaining by deception. She was sentenced to two years and seven months in jail. It's understood the legal complaint over the Herald coverage was from the firm, Tipene Funerals, rather than Bakulich. The Tipene Funerals Facebook page issued a statement to its followers after the sentencing saying, in part: 'We are grateful to our legal counsel who, after reviewing the article published by NZ Herald on 11 April 2025, formally responded to correct several serious inaccuracies. We share this clarification not to place blame, but to ensure the truth is known, especially for the grieving whānau whose stories are being spoken about.' It continues: 'The repeated use of the phrase 'wrapped in plastic instead of coffins' is completely false and deeply upsetting. It wrongly suggests that multiple tūpāpaku were not placed in coffins at all, which is simply not true. The judge has since instructed media to stop using this language, recognising the unnecessary pain it has caused. In truth, one tūpāpaku was in a body bag, which was inside in a wooden coffin, (a standard and appropriate practice in our profession), but was missing the metal liner coffin. This detail matters, especially for grieving families. 'The matter first came to light after the storm, when both Waikumete Cemetery staff and the immediate whānau of a loved one identified an issue with one interment. The concern was that a metal liner, required for mausoleum burial, was missing. Tipene Funerals responded immediately with deep regret, took full responsibility, and ensured that a metal liner was provided as soon as the issue came to our attention. 'Fiona Bakulich faced 13 charges. Of these, 12 related to financial dishonesty involving unauthorised cash payments and misleading whānau over costs. Only one charge involved the missing metal liner coffin, and another charge was withdrawn. These are important distinctions that were not clearly reflected in the NZ Herald article. 'It was Tipene Funerals who reported this matter to police. While the media may have played a role in drawing further attention. It is not accurate to suggest the offending was uncovered by NZ Herald.' Herald editor in chief Murray Kirkness said on Wednesday night: 'The Herald has made amendments to articles clarifying matters relating to Fiona Bakulich's offending and sentencing. We contacted the NPA [organisers of the awards] to remove a Voyager Media Awards entry. 'There were inaccuracies in our reporting and we have written to Tipene Funerals to apologise. Importantly, following the Herald's investigation and extensive coverage on this matter, a criminal investigation led to charges being laid.'
1News
04-05-2025
- 1News
Tipene Funerals owners break silence after ex-employee jailed
The owners of Tipene Funerals have spoken out for the first time after a former long-time employee was jailed for misconduct in relation to burials. Francis and Kaiora Tipene told TVNZ's Marae they should have noticed something sooner, but said they knew nothing of former employee Fiona Bakulich's offending. For the full story, watch Marae on TVNZ+ Fiona Bakulich, 48, a former employee, was jailed for two years and three months and ordered to pay more than $16,900 in reparations over her misconduct. She pleaded guilty to two charges of interfering with human remains and 12 charges of obtaining by deception in February. Her offending related to 11 victims in total. But the Crown dropped one charge of interfering with human remains at sentencing. Francis and Kaiora Tipene spoke to TVNZ's Marae programme in an exclusive interview. (Source: Marae) The Tipene owners spoke to Marae in their first interview since Bakulich was jailed. Francis said he was called to a meeting alongside Bakulich at Waikumete Cemetery by Auckland Council staff, where the first of her crimes was exposed. Cyclone Gabrielle had badly damaged a mausoleum housing two coffins interred by Bakulich. Repairs to the roof necessitated the disinterment of the remains, revealing she had not installed the zinc liner required and pocketed the $3000 in cash instead. "The reaction was this deep, sickening feeling," Francis said. "I just couldn't believe how someone could do that." Bakulich was stood down for six weeks and continued offending upon her return to work. The pair said they only discovered she had further defrauded families after her dismissal. "We had no idea this was going on, and I wish we did so we could have acted sooner," Francis said. "It's my fault, I should have been more onto it, overseeing it all, but I'm deeply apologetic to those whānau." Asked how the charges weren't detected in the company's accounting, Francis said the transactions were taking place off-site, in cash, and usually without an invoice or receipt. "I couldn't monitor that, regardless, so that's a hard one to swallow." The company would have to "build trust from the bottom up", the pair said of their business' relationship with the community. Marae did not receive a response when Fiona Bakulich's lawyer was approached for comment. For the full story, watch Marae on TVNZ+
