Coroner’s court Cyclist’s death remains mystery

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 30

Coroner’s court Cyclist’s death remains mystery

The events surrounding the death of a Christchurch cyclist on the Port Hills in March this year remained a mystery, the Coroner’s Court heard yesterday. The Assistant Coroner, Mr Colin Marshall, found that Simon Alexander Mackie, aged 31, had died on March I at Burwood Hospital, because of severe injuries sustained in a motor-vehicle accident on Dyers Pass Road on January 16, 1988. Senior Constable Martin Richard Fitzsimmons said that _it was his personal opinion that a car had “harassed” Mr Mackie as he was cycling towards Governors Bay, although there were no witnesses to the accident.

Statements from Mr Mackie before his death and witnesses on the scene after the accident who spoke to Mr Mackie had indicated, however, that a car had harassed him.

Extensive news coverage since the accident had failed to lead to the apprehension of an offender or offenders, said Senior Constable Fitzsimmons.

The exact cause of the tragedy remained a mystery, although the police file on the case was still open, he said. On Saturday, January 16, at 5 p.m. Mr Mackie had left his Hoon Hay home on his 10-speed racing cycle with the intention of taking a training

ride, he said. His route was not known, but it was assumed he travelled up Dyers Pass Road, over the Summit Road. He was heading downhill into Governors Bay, when an accideent occurred, which had left him with a broken spine and ribs.

He was taken to Burwood Hospital and later diagnosed as a paraplegic at the Spinal Injury Unit.

He was found by a group of motor-cyclists lying on a bank at the apex of a sharp left-hand hairpin bend about 70 metres from the Sign of the Kiwi. An off-duty fireman was also there soon after, and Mr Mackie told him that another vehicle had been involved, said Senior Constable Fitzsimmons.

On Saturday, January 23, Mr Mackie had an “excellent period of recollection.”

With the aid of gestures, a blackboard and

strained speech, Mr Mackie was able to indicate to the police that a vehicle had been following him downhill, and that the youthful occupants of the car had gestured and abused him before forcing him off the road. He recalled the vehicle was either blue-grey or grey and carried three to four youths, who were variously described by Mr Mackie as “yobbos, hoons, and kids.”

Mr Mackie’s only other recollection was of seeing them drive away waving at him as he lay injured on the ground. Several other people travelling from Governors Bay to Christchurch on the hill road had also been spoken to and all had recalled a vehicle travelling downhill away from the scene, but none could recall the make or colour of the car.

Senior Constable Fitzsimmons said he suspected those involved in the offending vehicle had stopped to check Mr Mackie, and on seeing he was alive, had probably propped him and his bicycle in the “relatively natural” position they found him in.

He said, while it was his personal opinion that a car was involved, it was possible Mr Mackie had been travelling too fast to traverse the left-hand bend, or that he lost control when caught in shingle on the left-hand side of the road.

Mr Mackie’s bicycle showed no signs of defects, although one wheel was buckled. DIED OF INJURIES A man died of multiple injuries suffered in a motor accident on State Highway One near Burnham on Sunday, July 17, 1988, Mr Marshall found. Steven Michael Coory, aged 22, died after he was struck by a car on the side of the road, after a series of collisions involving his car about 5.35 p.m. Mr Coory had been driving from Christchurch to Rakaia, when he stopped two kilometres north of Burnham, said a Ministry of Transport Officer stationed at Rolleston, Traffic Officer Stanley Jones, in a report read to the Court. Mr Coory had parked his car so that it was left straddling the white line on the left of the road by up to half the width of the car. The car lights were on park. It was raining and dark at the time. A motorist travelling towards the car, Shareen Faye Peacock, saw the car at the last minute and braked, but collided with the car. Mr Coory had left the car to go to a toilet nepr the side of the road. Two other drivers were travelling behind Ms Peacock. One, Jeremy John Smith, tried to take evasive action, but collided with the rear of Ms Peacock’s car.

The other, Jeffrey Edwin Farmer, hit the shingle seal to avoid Ms Peacock’s car, but failed to see Mr Coory beside the other car until the last minute., Mr Farmer tried to collide with the other car to avoid Mr Coory, but was not able to avoid hitting him. Mr Coory was taken to Christchurch Hospital, but died on Monday, July 18, at 2.50 a.m. Traffic Officer Jones, said in his opinion, Mr Coory had parked dangerously and been the “author of his own misfortune.” FAILED TO STOP An elderly Christchurch woman died after she failed to stop at a stop sign and her car became entangled with a truck. Mr Marshall said it was not possible to explain why Eileen Webster, aged 73, went through the intersection of St Asaph and Phillips Streets on Friday, July 29, 1988. The truck driver could not be held responsible for the accident, which occurred about 11.25 a.m. It was possible Mrs Webster had either been blinded by the sun, or had a lapse of concentration, or had not seen the stop sign because of a power pole in front.

Mrs Webster had died as a result of severe traumatic injuries, he said.

Traffic Officer Davitt Lance Lavery, of the Christchurch Ministry of

Transport, said that at 11.25 a.m. on Friday, July 29, Mrs Webster was driving her car north on Phillips Street. She approached a stop sign at the intersection with St Asaph Street, but failed to stop and collided with a truck travelling west on St Asaph Street.

The woman’s car became entangled with the left front of the truck and was pushed diagonally across the north-west corner of the intersection. The truck driver, Arthur Richard Martin, said in a statement that on seeing a glimpse of the woman’s car, he had braked and veered to the right, but collided with the car as it entered the intersection.

Mr Martin escaped injury, but a passenger in the truck, Arthur David Cavanagh, suffered minor buising. Mr Cavanagh said the car did not appear to have braked.

Another witness, Brent William Nesbitt, said the car had reduced speed, but had not stopped. Traffic Officer Lavery said Mrs Webster had been on prescription drugs at the time. An inspection of both vehicles showed neither had mechanical defects which would have led to the accident.

A pathologist, John Ewart Pettit, said the cause of death was severe traumatic injury as a result of the injuries.

Mr Marshall said the accident was a “complex matter with no real conclusions.” HIT BY LOCOMOTIVE A man died after being run over by a locomotive near the Montreal Street railway crossing on June 7, 1988, an inquest heard. Mr Marshall found William Patten Cowlishaw, died from gross traumatic injuries consistent with being run over by the locomotive.

Senior Constable Robeing Cocks, said Mr Cowlishaw had been run over some time after leaving the Crown Tavern about 7 p.m.

The tavern was only 150 m away from the crossing, or two-minutes walk, and it was not known what Mr Cowlishaw had been doing until struck by the train at between 7.34 p.m. and 7.39 p.m. Inquiries at the Salvation Army’s men’s home in Poulsen Street, where he had once lived, revealed Mr Cowlishaw had had an operation for “seepage of the brain,” and had been well up until two weeks before his death.

Just before his death Mr Cowlishaw was described as changing from being a polite quiet person to loud and aggressive.

He was also described as being depressed the week before his death, but on the day of his

death, was described by a neighbour as being in a good mood, said Senior Constable Cocks. HEART FAILURE An elderly woman died after a heart attack associated with an old brain injury sustained in an accident several months before. Mr Marshall found that Vera Isabella Woolcock, aged 70, had died of a heart failure associated with the injury. Mrs Woolcock died on May 15, 1988. more than two months after being knocked over by a van on a footpath in Brougham Street, on Thursday, March 3, 1988. Traffic Officer Robin Neil, said the woman had been walking her shopping trolley on the northern footpath of Brougham Street when she had been hit by the van. She was admitted to Christchurch Hospital suffering serious head injuries. She remained in a critical condition for some days, but had improved sufficiently to go home three weeks later. On May 15, she died. A post-mortem examination after her death, by a pathologist, Patrick Robert Kelleher, showed the cause of death was acute heart failure associated with an old injury of the brain substance.