It was later renovated, Before and after pics posted on Social Media, Nasty comments followed, which got the family of the home owner angry but unable
In 2013, chronic hoarding was recognised as a distinct condition when it was included for the first time in the ‘bible’ of psychiatry and psychology, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMV).
The condition, defined as the persistent inability to part with possessions regardless of use or value, affects between two and five per cent of the population and is probably triggered by trauma.
Beckett said she and other family members tried their best, talking to their mother about her house, the council and a GP and, on one occasion, a neighbour called the police about the condition of the house.
Legally, they were unable to do anything, she said.
Siblings were not close and Beckett lived in Australia for years, moving back to New Zealand when her mother suffered a stroke.
“Every time we tried. It got extreme. There must have been lots of her friends and family members who tried many times. We got into heated arguments.”
Eventually the house was so bad, her mother was moved into a caravan, but she started hoarding again, then she moved in to a state house with a friend.
Again, the hoarding resumed and the family tried to make a pact: the house would be left as it was until its owner passed away.
But it was sold in the interim.
“This is years ago. She hadn’t lived there for years.
“She started hoarding at a friend’s place too. They just can’t let anything go.
“She knew it was an issue. To give anything away, it would’ve been like cutting an arm off [to her]. It’s sad, she went through some really rough times. My brother died in the caravan, she smashed the window trying to help but it just exploded.
“She got more reclusive. People weren’t allowed to visit. She would lock her fence, kept a dog. She didn’t want people in her space
“We were finding it difficult with the posting on Facebook because there were so many racist and nasty comments.
“This was all over Facebook and people seem to think we’re these feral pigs.
‘We’re not bad people.”
Beckett’s daughter Cheyenne, 25, who has a successful career in Brisbane, said some of the comments online were horrible.
“To see all those comments on Facebook saying really nasty things. My mum and myself tried to explain to people who were calling my nana ‘a mutt.’
“People were trying to shame her.”
Cheyenne said her gran had not lived in the house for years, probably 15 years, and that over the years the property fell into disrepair, squatters moved in for a time and there was a fire.
Her nana was a hoarder but she never hoarded rubbish, she said.
“She hoarded valuable things.
“The last time we had access to the house was when I was a child.
“We tried everything. Nobody would help.
“Really the system let us down.
“There were times we went in there to help and she started screaming. It was terrible for her.
“She would rather die than see us go through her house.”