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Ripped right off

By Jesse King

WHILE two brothers were having what would be their last Christmas with their mum in Wellington, a man was allegedly ripping her off in Te Kuiti.

Shane (Antonio) Ashby appeared on Fair Go on TVNZ 1 on Monday night where he explained how a Hamilton man stole from him and his mum Sarah.

While Sarah was in Wellington catching up with her sister last Christmas, Grafton Mark was at her property on Kiwi St in Te Kuiti.

Shane says Grafton was supposed to be building a deck at Sarah’s home — but he only got as far as erecting three poles and a piece of string.

“They came along on December 22. They did the markings, got the wood and said the deck would be done by Christmas morning,” Shane says.

“I paid them $2000 for the materials, then when we were in Wellington, Grafton rung and said he was having family issues.”

Shane had engaged Grafton to build the deck having earlier worked with Grafton’s brother Jared of Royal Fencing.

While Jared was carrying out the work, Shane mentioned to him how he and his mum would like a deck for easier access to the home.

Shane has an amputated leg — the result of diabetes and often requires a wheelchair for mobility.

“Mum had fallen down the steps two or three times when she was by herself before we moved back,” Shane says.

“We wanted the deck put in for safety and because it would allow her to walk out of the lounge outside where she could enjoy hanging out.”

Shane located Jared and his service through a local marketplace on Facebook. He says Jared did a top job and he had no reason not to believe his brother would not do the same.

Grafton originally quoted about $4300 to build the deck, but told Shane the price would be $3999 if he agreed to it before Christmas.

After Grafton called about his ‘family issues’ on Christmas Eve, Shane spoke with Sarah and they decided to pay the $2000 labour in advance.

Naturally when they arrived home to three poles and a piece of string in early January, Shane text messaged Grafton asking what was going on.

Excuses started flowing in. First Grafton told Shane he had food poisoning; next he was having family raru (troubles); then he had not heard back from his brothers and finally, Grafton made an unfulfilled promise to pay the money back.

Shane sought police advice and thought about going to the Disputes Tribunal before reaching out to Fair Go.

Show host Hadyn Jones visited Te Kuiti to film the piece three or four weeks ago.

That is when Shane informed him Sarah, who was a pillar of the Waitomo district community, had died peacefully on June 8.

It was sad to watch the segment, Shane says.

“A lot of people who messaged me afterwards were angry about these people doing this to our mum, or their aunty,” he says. “They were hoping that he’d pay the money back, but I know that he won’t.”

Hadyn called Grafton and spoke with him on the show. Grafton said he was trying to gain employment within a church to pay Shane back, and had not finished the job in the first place due to being in a “mental hole”.

Shane says while he would like his money back, he is over the situation.

He was thrilled the deck which sits outside the front of the house was eventually completed in time for his mum to enjoy it.

Butch Baker was engaged to do the project properly and he built the deck for $4000 in about three days, just before lockdown.During this process Shane obtained a receipt from Placemakers showing Grafton had only spent $880.99 of the $2000 for materials there.

Shane says: “Mum used to love talking about it as her dance floor because she was into rock and roll in her younger years.

“She loved looking up the street.

“She’d look up the hill towards the cemetery, because she always used to imagine dad coming back down.”

Shane has not heard from Grafton since March.