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David Lomas is enlisted to help two sets of twins who were separated at birth and are desperate to find answers about their missing sibling.

Investigative journalist David Lomas travels the world to track down separated New Zealand family members, and reunite them.

Primary Title
  • David Lomas Investigates
Episode Title
  • The Mystery Of The Missing Twins
Date Broadcast
  • Tuesday 25 May 2021
Start Time
  • 19 : 30
Finish Time
  • 20 : 30
Duration
  • 60:00
Series
  • 2
Episode
  • 5
Channel
  • Three
Broadcaster
  • MediaWorks Television
Programme Description
  • Investigative journalist David Lomas travels the world to track down separated New Zealand family members, and reunite them.
Episode Description
  • David Lomas is enlisted to help two sets of twins who were separated at birth and are desperate to find answers about their missing sibling.
Classification
  • PGR
Owning Collection
  • Chapman Archive
Broadcast Platform
  • Television
Languages
  • English
Captioning Languages
  • English
Captions
Live Broadcast
  • No
Rights Statement
  • Made for the University of Auckland's educational use as permitted by the Screenrights Licensing Agreement.
Subjects
  • Television programs--New Zealand
  • Families--Separation--New Zealand
  • Families--Reunions--New Zealand
Genres
  • Reality
Hosts
  • David Lomas (Presenter)
Contributors
  • David Lomas (Director)
  • David Lomas (Producer)
  • Warner Bros. International Television (Production Unit)
  • MediaWorks (Production Unit)
  • NZ On Air (Funder)
- It hurts, you know? It's in here. - What do you know of your twin? - Nothing, nothing at all. - I don't know where he is, even if he's alive. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) - Did you think you had been lied to? - They didn't want people to know that I existed. - What would you say to him? - (CHUCKLES) What would you say? I wouldn't know what to say. - I could have passed him in the street. We don't know. (AMBIENT MUSIC) (GULLS SQUAWK, WATER SPLASHES) (ELECTRONIC MUSIC) - I'm David Lomas. Tonight I'm investigating two stories involving twins who have never met their sibling. First, I'm heading to Auckland's Avondale racecourse to meet 82-year-old Fred Tamati, who lives nearby. So, what is your story? - Well, I was born identical twin, I was the last one out, and I want to try and find my brother and find out if he's still alive and where he is. I don't even know his name. - And how can I help you? - Well, if you can trace him for me, I'd be very happy. I want to find out what the whanau is all about and who they are. - Fred was adopted as an infant by Hipirini and Amiria Tamati and along with their four daughters, he was raised on a farm at Torere, a small township near Opotiki on the North Island's East Coast. Fred is now retired, but at different times he worked as a truck driver, a labourer and a carpet layer. He was married to the late Lorraine for 58 years, and they raised five children ` three boys and two girls. Growing up on the farm at Torere, Fred says his childhood was happy but times were tough and money was tight. - Mum couldn't afford shoes, so we'd, you know, bare feet going and bring the cows in. And it's a frosty morning, and we'd walk about 5km to school every day and walk back. And that's without shoes. - It wasn't until Fred was 12 that he learned he was adopted. Then at 15, while staying with relatives in Auckland, he was told he was a twin. - The other whanau ` aunties and uncles ` they told me that I was a twin. - And how did you feel to find out that you were an identical twin? - It's that feeling, mate, that's deep down. It hurts, you know? It pulls. It's in here. It wasn't until way after we got married that I started thinking about it ` where and how. - Fred applied for his pre-adoptive birth certificate and found his birth parents' names ` Thomas Atkinson and Mary Atkinson, whose maiden name was Parata. Your mother, did she ever tell you anything about why you were adopted? - No, it was just through idle talk from others that I found out that Mary Parata couldn't handle two of us, so my mother stepped in and took me. That's about all I know about that part of it. - What do you know of your twin? - Nothing, nothing at all. - Do you know his name? - No, I haven't a clue, mate. - Fred has the full support of his family ` including son Kenneth Tamati, who likes to be called 'Charlie'. - Oh, just for dad, I think, you know, part of his life that he doesn't really know much about. And it'd be good for us to have an uncle as well. - And daughter Celina Tamati. - Yeah, I'm the chief cook and mucker upper, and he's the cleaner upper. - Yeah, see. The innocent guy. I got waylaid somewhere. - While Fred has always wondered about his twin, the urge to find him has only grown in recent years. - You're still the same thing. I think we should get a shot of me and you next to my bike and try and recreate it, eh? - (CHUCKLES) It wasn't till up to this moment that I realised, you know, 82, about time you did something. - What would it mean to you if I can find your twin brother or your whanau? - Well, it'll complete the puzzle. It'll make the whole picture whole again, you know. Won't be any of that thinking, 'I wonder if... I wonder if...' you know? I could have passed him in the street. We don't know. (ORCHESTRAL MUSIC) (TENSE MUSIC) I start my search for Fred's twin at the Auckland Public Library ` searching birth records from 1938. There is no trace of Fred or his twin under the name 'Atkinson'. And while I find a handwritten record for Fred and his adopted name Tamati, there is no way to identify the twin if he, too, was adopted. (GENTLE MUSIC) Back at the office, I take a closer look at Fred's birth certificate and notice that his adoption was signed off by the Maori Land Court in Opotiki. At first glance, it's surprising that a land court presided over an adoption, so I research whangai adoptions where Maori are raised by someone other than their parents ` usually whanau. I find that because there were issues over whangai children and land inheritance that in 1909 the then Native Land Court was given the power to oversee Maori adoptions. That ended when the Adoption Act was passed in 1955. Adoption records are usually sealed. But because of this unusual process and its links to land inheritance rights, I wonder whether Fred's adoption record from the Opotiki Maori Land Court might be one that I can actually look at. (CURIOUS MUSIC) I check the National Archives website and find the court's minutes books are available, and I order copies covering the years after Fred's birth. I'm hoping these might shed light not only on Fred's adoption but also on what happened to his twin. (WATER SPLASHES) (GULL SQUAWKS) The next day, I am at Archive New Zealand's Auckland office. Inside the hard new covers, I find an incredible handwritten record of the court's activities in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It's an overwhelming task searching through these books. But incredibly, in the court minutes of July 1944, I find details of the then 5-year-old Fred's adoption by the Tamati. I am not allowed to photograph the full pages of these books, so I start the slow task of transcribing the scrawly, difficult-to-read record of Fred's adoption hearing. The Tamatis, I see, had been looking after Fred since he was 5-months-old. And then I find what I have been looking for ` confirmation of a twin... (DRAMATIC STING) ...and the suggestion that the twin had not been adopted but had been taken by Thomas Atkinson's mother, Fred's grandmother. The minutes state Atkinson married another woman and that he moved away with her to Waihi and also that Fred's birth mother, Mere Parata was in trouble with the police and couldn't be found. The final bit of evidence from Fred's adoptive mother is, however, a shock. She told the court that she had been told Fred's twin was dead. While the court minutes have given me amazing detail, they have also raised questions. Did Fred's twin die almost 77 years ago as an infant or was Fred's adoptive mother misinformed? I need to find out more about the birth parents and what actually happened to Fred's twin. Because it's now in three sizes, starting from an unbelievable $3.99. All our favourite Value Range recipes now from just $3.99. Domino's all new Value Range. Bring it in. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) (CHUCKLES) SONG: # Bah-ah-ah, ah ah ah, ah-ah-ah # Bah-ah-ah # Oh, oh, oh, oh # Bah-ah-ah, ah ah ah, ah-ah-ah # Bah-ah-ah # Oh, oh, oh, oh. # - 82-year-old Fred Tamati was adopted, and now he's searching for his missing twin he has never known. At the National Archives, I've found old Maori Land Court records that give confusing accounts of what happened to Fred's twin, suggesting he could have been raised by Fred's paternal grandmother or that he may have died as an infant. My search now is for more details about Fred's parents ` Mary Parata and Thomas Atkinson. There is nothing online about Mary, but I find a family tree that seems to connect to Thomas Atkinson. It shows he died in 1982. I message the tree owner, explaining I want to know more about Thomas. And a few hours later, I get a reply and a phone number. The tree owner writes that Tomas' 92-year-old sister Zelda is still alive but that her memory's no longer good, so the person to speak to is her daughter Ros Austen. - PHONE: Hello. - Oh, hello. It's David Lomas here. I arrange to meet Ros at her place... Oh, well, look. That's fantastic. Look, thank you so much ...in Orewa, north of Auckland. OK, bye. (FRENETIC MUSIC) On the phone, Ros hinted that she knows what the mystery is that I'm trying to solve. - Come in. - As soon as we sit down, she shows me a photo. - Probably this one. - Incredibly, it's a photo of who I am looking for. It's Fred's identical twin. His name is Kenny. - For all us cousins, he was our uncle. - Ros explains that Kenny was raised by his grandparents as one of their children. When Kenny joined the grandparents' family, he was treated as a brother to his father, Tom Atkinson, and also to Ros' mother, Zelda, and to the other siblings. So, Kenny, he just blended in? - Yeah, he was just brought up as one of the brothers. There were eight of them. I never knew he was Uncle Tom's son till I was about 17 or 18. Mum said he was a twin. - And do you know what happened to the other twin? - No. Um... Mum said that Grandma went to the railway station, I think it was Mary, which was the mother, and when Grandma got there, she said, 'You can take one of the twins,' and she was taking the other one. And Grandma took Kenny home and raised him as one of their own. - Tell me about Kenny. He was a happy, friendly person. This is the family photograph, and you can see Kenny and Uncle Tom there and very, very much alike. That's why I think it was easy for him just to be my Uncle Kenny through all my childhood. - So, father and son were raised as brothers. - Brothers, yeah. But they look so alike, don't they? (MOVING MUSIC) - Well, if you would just have a look at this photo. Who's that? - Ooh. The same nose, isn't it? And the eyebrows. - They look very similar, don't they? - Very similar. - That's Kenny's twin brother, Fred. - Yeah, Fred? Wow. - And he's alive still; he's 82. - Oh, wow. Really? - So, what became of Kenny? - He was killed in a car accident when he was about 25 down Palmerston North way somewhere. - Oh my goodness. - Yeah, him his friend were in the car and they were tragically killed. And it was devastating. I know when Kenny died, we all wanted to find that twin. And we'd be looking for somebody up the street that looked like Kenny because we wanted to have part of him in our lives again. - It's a sad story. Not only did Kenny die at 25, but he left behind a wife and two young children. - This is Val, Kenny's wife, and that's David, their firstborn. It was quite tragic because these two little boys and their father killed. Cos they were only young. - And where are they now? - Darwin. - Fred was hoping that Kenny would be still alive. Would you be happy to talk to Fred? - Yeah, it'd be wonderful. Yes. It'll be nice to finally find Kenny's twin. (BIRDS TWEET) - 82-year-old Fred Tamati was adopted as an infant and wants to find out what happened to his identical twin brother, Kenny, who he has never known. Today, I'm meeting with Fred and his children Charlie and Celina to tell them what I have found. Well, we've been doing quite a lot of work over the last few months, and I've got some answers for you today. You've never seen what your father looks like, have you? - No, no. - You've never seen blood family at all? I have a photo of your father and your paternal grandmother here. Do you think he'll look like you? - (CHUCKLES) - Well, it depends how strong the genes are. - Oh, yeah. - Oh, wow. - Look at him. Kia ora, e hoa. Kia ora. (MYSTERIOUS MUSIC) (WEEPS) (SNIFFLES) (SIGHS) - (SNIFFLES) - First ever. First ever photo. (POIGNANT MUSIC) - (SIGHS) - And if you look at these pictures of you, there's quite a likeness to your dad. - Gee. - Look at that. - Yeah. - Now, there was also this photo. You recognise him? - No, no. - That is your identical twin brother, Kenneth Stanley Atkinson or 'Kenny'. - (EXCLAIMS) Kenneth. - Kenny, that's my name. - Kenneth. - Must've known something. - Yeah. - Look at that. Oh my gosh. It's you, Dada. - So, that's your twin brother. We don't know exactly what happened after your parents split, but it seems that your mother offered one of the twins to your grandmother. - Yeah. - And that was Kenny. Two years after you were born, your father married a lady called Doris in Waihi. Kenny was raised by your grandmother as one of her sons. In 1956, when Kenny was 17, he got married and he moved to Palmerston North where he worked as a printer. Tragically, he died in a car accident in 1964. - No. - (WEEPS) (SNIFFLES) (POIGNANT MUSIC) (SNIFFLES, SIGHS) - All that time. - (SIGHS) - So, sadly, you will never get to meet your twin brother. But there are other living relatives who are keen to meet you. - Boy, mm. - If you look at this picture, this is your grandmother's family. You'll see your dad there and Kenny there. - Yeah. - And this woman here, that's Zelda, your father's sister. - She's 92. - Oh, mean. - But her memory is a bit fuzzy, but she's told everything she knows to her daughter Ros. Ros knew your father and knew your brother Kenny. - Oh, awesome. - Mm. - And I'd like to take you to meet Ros. - Course we will. Yeah, yeah. - Oh, hell yeah. - Yeah. - It'd be awesome. - Yeah. Beautiful. - That weekend, I return to Orewa to introduce Fred and family to his cousin Ros Austen. - That's a lovely photo of Gran here. Man, they kept that secret, didn't they? - They certainly did. - Ros has been joined for the day by his sister Margaret Barker, who also knew Kenny growing up. Well, today is the day you're going to get to meet Freddy. How does that feel? - Really excited. - Mm. - Yeah, yeah. And thinking about him and how he's going to react. I mean, we're cousins. (TENSE MUSIC) - For Fred, it's been a very long wait, but he's finally about to meet blood relatives who knew both his father and his twin brother, Kenny. (POIGNANT MUSIC) - He does look young, doesn't he? - There you go, Dada. There you go, Dada. (BRIGHT MUSIC) - Oh, there you are. (LAUGHTER) How are ya? - Very good. - He looks just like Kenny, doesn't he? - The nose. - Yeah, yeah. - The nose knows. (LAUGHTER) Hello. - Aw. You've been lost a long time. - Tears to the eyes. - I know. (CHUCKLES) I'm Ros, and this is my sister Margaret. - Pleased to see you. - (CHUCKLES) - Oh. - Oh, yeah. - His name was Kenneth. - I know. - When I saw the photos, you know? - I know those photos they took, yeah. - Yeah, spooky. - It is. (CHUCKLES) - It was, yeah. - After all these years. - Yes. - Eh? - Yeah. You should have started looking a long time ago. - Yeah, I know. - And these are your children? - Kia ora. - Yeah, that's my son Charlie. - Charlie. How are you? - Very good. - Mm. - Oh, you might be sorry you've found this big family. (CHUCKLES) - Oh, no, no. - I'm Selina. - Hi, I'm Ros. - So, we're second cousins. - Oh, that's the one. - Yeah. - Whanau now. It's all good. - Ooh, it's just all quite surreal ` the whole thing. We've got answers. We've seen the person I've wondered about all my life. (LAUGHTER) Pity Uncle Ken wasn't here. - Yup, yeah. - Did Kenny have any kids? - Two boys ` David and Kevin. - Oh, yeah. - And they live in Darwin. - Darwin, oh. - Yeah, yeah. And I mean, they're grown-up boys now, but we remember them as little kiddies. - I feel bloody good, mate. Actually put pieces together. I know more about my biological family now than I ever have. And to meet Ros and her sister ` over the moon. - But I think we need to go inside, out of this hot sunshine. - The family hid inside unaware I have someone else for them to meet. Hello. I've got a surprise visitor for you. You might want to say hello. - Hello. How are you? - LAPTOP: Hi. - Who's that? - How are you going? - I'm good, thank you. - Who are you? WARMLY: Oh, you're not. Isn't this wonderful that Freddy's here? - I'm good, mate. Where are you, David? You sound like an Australian, mate. - (CHUCKLES) - We won't hold it against you. - When are you coming over here? - (CHUCKLES) - When you can. Yeah. And how's Kevin? - How many more are out there, eh? (LAUGHTER) - Have you got children? Whoa. Very good. And what do you think about seeing your father's twin? - Eh, matua, eh? - Yeah, all good, mate. All good. I had to have a bit of a splutter there. - (CHUCKLES) I think it's a big day for everybody. (CHUCKLES) - It's OK. - Yeah. (CHUCKLES) - It's sad that Kenny has passed, but now you have some answers. - Yeah, and to talk to one of my nephews, that's a bonus, mate ` brought tears to my eyes. It hurts, you know? It's in the body, yeah. - We look forward to seeing you in person. Yeah. - Don't leave it too long, brother. - (CHUCKLES) - Fred has kept in touch with his cousins Ros and Margaret, and he's visited his Aunt Zelda at her rest home. He hopes one day to meet nephews David and Kevin in person. (WARM MUSIC) (TENSE MUSIC) - I don't know where he is, even if he's alive. - Did you think you'd been lied to? - They didn't want people to know that I existed. - What would you say to him? - (CHUCKLES) What would you say? (ORCHESTRAL MUSIC) - After solving the mystery of what happened to Fred Tamati's twin brother, Kenny, I'm landing in Nelson to help a man who's also searching for a missing twin. 59-year-old truck driver Eriapa Pepere, also known as 'Pep', is desperate for answers about a twin brother he has never known. (BRIGHT MUSIC) So, what's your story? Well, I was born a twin ` my birth certificate says so ` and I've never met my brother. I don't know where he is, even if he's alive. - And how can I help you? - I'm hoping you can give me closure, closure and finding out if he is alive or if the stories are true that he had passed away. I've never seen a death certificate. All I've heard are stories, so I'd love to find out. (BIRDS TWEET) - Pep was born in Masterton, but his parents passed him on to his father's niece Hine Taitoko and her husband Jimmy for whangai adoption. It was a pleasant childhood with three siblings, and Pep's adoptive mother always kept him in touch with the wider family. - She didn't hold back where we come from or who we were. I was introduced to my real grandfather and my real family. The childhood I had, I was quite blessed that I was brought up by my whangai mum. I was only supposed to be there for maybe a month, but they never came back to pick me up. - Why do you think they never came back? - Part of the story was they couldn't afford to keep me. And one of the other stories is that they didn't want people to know that I existed. - Pep reconnected with his birth parents when he was 16, but it didn't go well. I don't think they liked me at the time, but it might be my fault because you're 16, 17, with a, um, a chip on your shoulder. So, I guess the first meeting wasn't good. But then, since then, over the years, they actually got to know me and I got to know them. - Pep had first discovered he had been born a twin when he saw his birth certificate at age 9. Did you ever ask your birth parents about the twin? - Yeah, I did. All I got was he died at birth. - Pep wasn't told where his brother was buried, but it was suggested it was with their grandfather in a Masterton cemetery. But as a then concrete layer, people had doubts. - Dealing with concrete, you know if that's been altered. And looking at the grave site and knowing that hadn't been tampered with, straightaway, the suspicions were, 'I think I've been told some misleading information.' - Did you think you'd been lied to? - Yes. Yeah. - What do you think happened to your twin brother? - He could have been whangai'ed out to someone that's not related and probably doesn't even know that he's got a twin brother. - Pep's tried to find answers. He could find no death record, so he got a friend at the births, deaths and marriages office to do some checking. - She'd said, 'Well, yes, if there's a birth certificate and a person dies, 'they must have a death certificate.' So that even got the thirst going even further. Is he still out there? - Adding to Pep's growing hope that his twin was still alive was a comment from an aunt. She said the twin may have been born with disabilities and been placed in care in Auckland, and there was even a sighting of a lookalike in Whanganui. Pep's partner Kim Probert knows the uncertainty has been disconcerting for Pep. - It's quite challenging for him. It seems to be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. He talks a lot about 'What if?' You know, 'What if he was still alive?' which would be fantastic, but just getting answers would mean so much to him. - Why is it important for you to find your twin? - For me, it's about closure. It's been a lot of years. And it's been, um... ...a lot of emotion over the years. For my family, if he is still alive, it would be huge. It affects so many people. - If we can find your twin, what would you say to him? - (SNIFFLES) (CHUCKLES) What would you say? (SNIFFLES) We've lost a lot of years. 59 years. (HEART-RENDING PIANO MUSIC) I wouldn't know what to say. (SNIFFLES) (GULL SQUAWKS, WATER SPLASHES) - Back in Auckland, my search begins at the public library. I check the microfiche copy of the 1961 New Zealand birth register, and their, just above Pep's birth name of 'Desmond', I find his twin, Daaren Pirika Pepere. Now that I have the twin's full name, I head straight to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Office to get a copy of Daaren's birth certificate. But strangely, though his birth was recorded on the microfiche records, Darren seems no longer to have existed. There is no birth record or even a death record. This just does not make sense. Why is there no official trace of Pep's twin? - 59-year-old Nelson truck driver Pep Pepere, who was adopted at birth, is trying to find out the truth about what happened to his twin brother he has never met. At the Auckland Library, I found an old birth record showing the brother's name was Daaren Pepere. But I have discovered today that official record now no longer exists. Adding to the intrigue, Pep's been told that Daaren died at birth, that he was disabled and lived in Auckland, and that had been seen in Whanganui. Pep's never being able to find out what is true. (ENGINE RUMBLES) I decide I need to talk to someone who knew Pep's birth parents, so I fly to Wellington and drive to Paraparaumu to meet Selwyn Smith, Pep's older half brother. Hello, I'm David. - Selwyn, David. Come on in. - Nice to meet you. Hello, dogs. Selwyn was 14 at the time of the twins' birth. Back then, he says their mother Tapaea Smith, who lived with Pep's father Eriapa, was busy working as a cook at a forestry camp near Masterton. Tapaea was also raising her five children from a previous relationship. - When Pep was born, I knew that the mother had gone to the hospital. When she returned home, there was this little child. Basically, we were told that he was a twin. - So, you only` You saw one baby? - Yes. - Selwyn says his mother told him the same story as she told Pep ` that the other twin died at birth. But he says that, unusually, there was no tangi or service for the dead child. Is it possible the other twin might still be alive? - I'll be disappointed and totally shocked if that was the case. If he's still alive, we've missed out on all that time, Daaren being part of our family. And I think the rest of the family would be totally shocked as well. - While I get no definitive answer from Selwyn, meeting him has given me an idea. Back in Auckland, I head straight to the library where this time, I search birth records under the name Smith ` Pep's mother's name from when she was married to Selwyn's dad. And there he is ` Daaren Pirika Smith, born to Tapaea Smith in Masterton with the same reference number as Pep's. Why, I wonder, was the twin's birth registered under different surnames? Was Daaren adopted? I head back to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Office to try to discover what happened. (TRIUMPHANT MUSIC) And finally, what I find is an answer to Pep's mystery. But before I tell Pep about my discovery, I do a quick bit of research back at the office to check some details. (GRACEFUL MUSIC) Then two days later, I return to Nelson to tell Pep and his partner Kim, what I found. Hello. - Gidday. - Beautiful Nelson day. - Yeah, mate. (CHUCKLES) - Hi. Hi, Kim. - Hi, David. (CHUCKLES) Well, I've got a bit of news for you. - Oh, choice. - I have solved the mystery of your twin brother, Daaren. - Oh, mean. - Now, you know, you were a twin because on this birth certificate, it had` - Yup, elder of twins. - Elder of twins, yes. Well, this is a mystery which had even the Births, Deaths and Marriages office in Auckland quite confused. In Auckland, I went to the main public library where they have copies of the official register of Births, and when I search through there, I came across this record, which if you have a look there, you'll see your birth. - Yeah. - And what else do you see there? - Daaren Pirika Pepere. - So, when I found that, I went down to the Births, Deaths and Marriages, but they searched everywhere and they were very helpful, but they could find no record of Daaren's birth. - Unreal. - No one had an answer or an explanation for what happened. - Very strange. - Hm. - So we went right back to the start and we thought, 'Could your twin brother Daaren have been registered under a different name?' And we came across this, and if you have a look at the top there, what does that say? - READS: Daaren Pirika Smith. - And Smith is? - My mother's name. - And you go a bit further down, what's said there? - Stillborn. Younger of twins. - Oh, wow. - That's unreal. (POIGNANT MUSIC) - So, when your mother told you that your twin brother had died at birth, she was telling you the truth. - Yeah. - But she'd registered, obviously, under` - Under Smith. - Under her married name. - Oh, right. So that's the reason why we couldn't find him. - So, hopefully, that gives you an answer. - Yup, it's closure, and all the mystery's gone. - Yeah, it's there in black and white. - Yup. - Yeah. - It's sad that he's not alive, but I'm actually wrapt that we actually get the full story. - We've tried to find out what happened to Daaren's body. Back in the 1960s, the thought was that it was best for the mother not to be given back the body. It was thought it might be too disturbing. So in a lot of cases, the hospitals disposed of the body. I went to the Wairarapa Hospital Board, but the hospital can find no records. But interestingly, your brother Selwyn has a memory of your grandfather's grave. He recalls that there was a slight disturbance around it. - Yeah. (WEEPS) It's been a lot of years, so to finally find out. And all it was a name. - (GIGGLES) - (SNIFFLES) Unreal. That's awesome. - Pep now has certainty about what happened to his brother, and two weeks later, he's at Masterton Cemetery. - I found it, baby. This one right here. Here it is, baby. - Aw, look at that. - Yeah. Here's where... Here's where my brother is. He's right here. This is where my brother is. And now I can move on. That's cool, eh? - Yeah. - (SNIFFLES) It sad, but I've got a sense of relief. I don't have to listen to stories any more. I don't have to listen to people telling me that, 'Oh, yeah. He could be alive.' I now know that he's here. And for me, it's huge closure. (SNIFFLES) I can now talk to my brother direct. (SNIFFLES) I wish I had have... I wish I had have met him. (WEEPS) But it wasn't to be, eh, brother? (INSPIRING MUSIC) One day we'll meet. (SNIFFLES, SIGHS) - You found him. - (SNIFFLES) Yeah. My brother. My brother. (SIGHS) - Any information that they could have given me, they now can't. - Seeking her donor father,... What do you want to know? - Even if it's just a name. - ...and searching for his donor children. - I know nothing about them. - But can the hidden truth... - They couldn't contact me; I couldn't contact them. - ...ever be revealed? - I'm genuinely lost for words right now. (SNIFFLES) It's incredible. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021
Subjects
  • Television programs--New Zealand
  • Families--Separation--New Zealand
  • Families--Reunions--New Zealand