Warriena Wright was more than ‘just a victim’, heartbroken friends say
FRIENDS of Warriena Wright have broken their silence to say the young woman was more than “just a victim”.
TO THE world, Warriena Wright was the young New Zealand woman who fell to her death on the Gold Coast after a Tinder date — but to her devastated friends she is much more than “just a victim”.
A Facebook post by two friends, Kaitlyn Cooper-Craill and Hayley Cason, reveals the torment those closest to Ms Wright have been through since she become a global news story after her death in 2014, her date Gable Tostee’s arrest and the much publicised Brisbane trial.
Last week, Mr Tostee was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter.
“For us Rrie was not just a victim... she’s a real person who is loved and missed everyday. She is a dear and beautiful friend who deserves to be remembered for all the good she put out into the world and for all the kind and gentle things she did for her friends and family.”
The end of the trial and the avalanche of publicity that came with it — including hearing Ms Wright’s terrified screams during a recording released by the court — had been a “difficult time for those who know and love Rrie [Ms Wright’s nickname].
“We are truly blown away by the pure strength and dignity Rrie’s family have shown throughout this horrific time, and we continue to send our love and support in the times to come,” the Wellington-based friends wrote in the post published on Monday.
The friends publicly thanked investigators and Crown prosecutors who brought the case to court, along with victim support advocates both in Australia and New Zealand.
“Although one very important piece has been unfairly taken from us she will be forever remembered and carried in our hearts.”
Their emotional post came after a very different social media offering by another New Zealand woman — someone who identified herself as Mr Tostee’s girlfriend.
Lizzi Evans last week joined a closed Facebook group, the Gable Tostee and Warriena Wright case discussion group, which was created during Mr Tostee’s Supreme Court trial.
In it, she repeatedly made posts defending him.
In a series of private messages with two members of the group — obtained by news.com.au — Ms Evans identified herself as Tostee’s partner and that they had been seeing each other for “quite a while”.
She also attacked Ms Wright as a “phycho” (sic) drunk.
“He was only behaving how every other guy on the gc (Gold Coast) seems too but gets strung out for it,” Ms Evans wrote on Facebook, in a post that has since been deleted.