Exhaustion cost woman her life

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33963, 2 October 1975, Page 2

Exhaustion cost woman her life

< V Z Press Assoctaltont | WELLINGTON, October 1. A Samoan woman. ! who worked excessive j! hours, died from injuries after falling asleep at the wheel of her car, the Wellington ( Coroner (Mr A. D. McGregor) said today. i He was holding an inquest into the death of Pepe Koke Lemana, aged 34, a married woman of Newtown, in Wellington Hospital. Mr McGregor said she died from a haemorrhage. “For most of the week Mrs Lemana appeared to work for 1« hours a dav with three l

hours sleep at night. Clearly she was not afraid of work.” he said. Mrs Lemana was a night cleaner, but had other jobs. She had five young children and her husband was in employment. “Evidence indicated that she fell asleep at her car wheel while driving her children on July 30. She ran into the rear of a correctly parked car. and suffered injuries from which she died. “The hours that she worked were extraordinary and excessive. Her conseouent exhaustion has cost this unfortunate woman her life, and the young family their mother. “It is a sad case of a fatality that should never have happened." Mr McGregor said.