Corrections Officers from Wellington Prison form a guard of honour for Toma’s casket at Wellington airport.
Corrections staff are mourning the sudden death of Wellington Prison Senior Corrections Officer Teangauki Toma. Toma, as he liked to be called, was tragically killed in the Solomon Islands tsunami on Monday 2 April, while helping to evacuate his family.
The magnitude 8.1 earthquake which created the tsunami left 52 people dead and thousands homeless. Toma began working at Rimutaka Prison in 1990, moving to Wellington Prison in 1995. He had 16 years of loyal service behind him.
The New Zealand Defence Force flew Toma’s body to Wellington where staff from Wellington Prison formed a guard of honour to lift the casket from the military carrier.
"The guard of honour accompanied the casket to the family house, the service and the cemetery to ensure our mate was safely in the hands of his loved ones," says Wellington Prison Manager Walker Manaena.
Walker says Toma’s wife Marina remarked that Toma had designed a new way of doing rosters and took the work with him on his laptop to the Solomon Islands for some fi nal adjustments.
"Sadly that has gone with him, but it does bring a smile to us all that even on a sun-drenched beach holiday he was still thinking of us at work."
The thoughts and prayers of Corrections staff are with Mrs Toma and the family.
"Toma will be sadly missed, but not forgotten, by his friends and colleagues at Corrections. His years of service and experience cannot be replaced easily, nor can his special abilities with computers and role as an assessor. He was a valued member of Wellington Prison’s team," says Walker.
Toma is survived by his wife Marina, eight children and seven grandchildren.
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