Before fleeing Alexandra for Dunedin, Sonya orchestrated a series of bizarre disappearances, forcing her children to hide in their own home. On more than one occasion, she told friends, visitors, and even her employer that the family was going on holiday. In reality, they never left the driveway. She would tell her children there was a “problem” with the trip and force them to remain out of sight inside their own home for days at a time.

To ensure their silence, she weaponised fear, warning the children that if they were seen, people would be “angry that they didnt go.” While their mother maintained the facade of being away, her children lived as prisoners in the shadows of their own house.

This manipulation was only the precursor to a much larger web of deceit. Following one of these “hiding weekends,” Sonya forced her children to tell the community she had been flown to Christchurch Hospital for an emergency involving sarcoidosis. Cracks in this deception nearly broke during one of her claimed hospitalisations. A woman named Jan, a volunteer from the Buddy Programme who was worried about the family’s welfare, arrived at the front door. She was greeted by Sonya’s youngest son, who attempted to recite the story he had been coached to tell. As Jan pressed for details and the boy’s forced narrative began to crumble, the tension became too much. Sonya, who had been hiding just out of sight, finally stepped out from behind a wall to fabricate a new story on the spot.  This fabricated diagnosis became the cornerstone of her fake illness. She eventually claimed that the mounting costs of travelling to Dunedin Hospital for weekly specialist appointments were too high, using her “condition” as the ultimate excuse to relocate the family permanently.

However, The move was never about healthcare—it was an escape. With her lies in Alexandra unraveling, her true character being exposed, and debts mounting across town, she didn’t move for a new life; she moved to stay one step ahead of the truth.

 

Potential cross-check witnesses 

Jan Bird: The Buddy Programme