Waterfront death to be examined
The Wellington City Council will this week be under the microscope as a coroner looks into how Sandy Calkin’s body was found in the city’s harbour more than three years ago.
Calkin, 30, went missing on July 10, 2021, after a night out with friends. His body was pulled from the water at Queens Wharf seven days later.
His father, Roger Calkin, has called for railings to be installed to stop others falling into the water off the harbour wharves. But it turned out there were recommendations to the council for safety upgrades in the area dating back to 2016.
Another safety report in 2022 highlighted the risk of falling into the harbour near Te Papa. The following year, Christchurch teacher Isaac Levings was found dead in the harbour. It is believed he fell in near Te Papa and his father, Charles Levings, believed his son would still be alive if the council had followed the report’s advice.
Two other people had fallen into the harbour on the night Levings died.
The council recently installed temporary fencing and now says it plans to install permanent barriers in coming years.
A coroner’s inquest into Calkin’s 2021 death begins in the Wellington District Court today and the witness list shows that it is the council under the microscope.
Five of the eight witnesses either work directly for the council or prepared reports for it.
The inquest will look to find out what caused Calkin’s death and the circumstances of it. It will also ask whether the council had adequate safety measures in place and whether it had taken steps to identify past incidents and mitigate dangers.
At least nine bodies have been found in Wellington harbour since 2006.
They were Daniel Hansman in 2006, Olivia Rutherford in 2010, Renee Hudson in 2013, Finbarr Clabby in 2015, Cory Pearson in 2016, an at-the-time unidentified woman in 2017, Sarah Mayne in 2019, Calkin, and Levings.
There have also been many rescues of people who ended up in the water accidentally.
After Levings’ death, city councillor Nureddin Abdurahman called on the council to take action because “we cannot lose more lives on our waterfront”. On Sunday, he said he had asked for money for fencing to be put in the recently signed-off council 10-year plan but council staff told him they had to await the outcome of the coroner’s inquest.
Mayor Tory Whanau said a programme was under way looking at improving waterfront safety, including possible fencing and edge definition but she could not comment further due to the inquest starting today.
Council spokesperson Victoria BartonChapple recently said the council was designing a more permanent solution for waterfront fencing, but more information about what that might look like was not available.