Men drowned after injuries — coroner

Press, 14 March 1978, Page 26

Men drowned after injuries — coroner

Greymouth reporter Two young Christchurch men, whose bodies were found in their car in the Taramakau River a fortnight after they had left from home for a football match on the West Coast, had drowned after suffering head injuries, the District Coroner (Mr D. H. Copeland) found in the Greymouth Coroner’s Court. The Coroner was resuming an inquest into the death of Dennis Menzies and Geoffrey Charles Barr. Sergeant M. A. Howard, of Greymouth, said that Mr Barr was reported missing to the Hornby police, on October 15 last, and it was learned that he had left the previous day with Mr Menzies for a football match on the West Coast.

When they did not arrive for the match, extensive inquiries were made, and the police and national park rangers checked the Arthur’s Pass area without success. The last known sighting of the two men had been near Darfield on the afternoon of October 14.

A fortnight later, the police were told of a vehicle found in the Taramakau River. It had crashed about 60 feet from the road, was on its roof,

and was partly submerged in the strong river current.

The bodies of the two men were found inside. The road was in good condition, and the position where the car left the road at Rocky Point was the first serious bend encountered after leaving Jacksons. The approach to the bend was not very clear for someone unfamiliar with the section. Since the accident, additional warning devices had been placed there. Dr J. M. Maclaurin, of the Grey Hospital, gave evidence of making postmortem examinations of both bodies. He considered that through the head injuries they had suffered the men had been rendered unconscious and subsequently drowned. An elderly man, who was a passenger in a car being driven towards Reefton, died after the car left the road near Tawahai, about four miles south of Reefton. The Coroner found that he had died from shock from multiple trauma and pulmonary contusion and oedema, with consequent hypoxaemia, together with head injuries and concussion.

He was conducting an inquest into the death of Alan Rothery.

Medical evidence of a post-mortem examination

was given by Mr H. R. Bodie, a surgeon at the Grey Hospital.

Alan Forrest, an engineer at Reefton Hospital, and the driver of the car, said that about 4 p.m. on December 14 he was travelling towards Reefton, and when turning a bend he had been blinded by the sun shining off an approaching vehicle. He next remembered scrub rubbing against the windscreen, and had no further recollection until he regained consciousness some hours later. Neither witness nor his passenger, Mr Rothery, could move. Witness was pinned under the steering wheel with Mr Rothery on top of him. He realised both of them were badly injured. Mr Rothery was talking, but progressively became weaker. When he realised that no help was coming, witness finally forced himself out, clambered back to the roadside and stopped a passing motorist. He himself had spent considerable time in hospital as a result.

Constable R. J. Hibbs, of Reefton. said that when he arrived at the scene after being informed about 7.15 p.m. Mr Rothery was still alive but in poor condition. He had died after being placed in the ambulance.