An elderly woman found dead at Perfume Point in 2014 died as a result of traumatic asphyxiation after she fell down a bank and became trapped under a large rock, a Coroner's report has found.
An inquiry into the death of Frances Elizabeth Wilson, 75, has found she was walking her dog on the afternoon of November 20 along the Ahuriri waterfront when she slipped and fell down a bank of large rocks adjacent to the water.
Miss Wilson, who lived alone and generally walked her dog along the Ahuriri waterfront every day, had visited her niece who was a physiotherapist that day and complained of pain in her calf muscle when she exercised, saying the pain caused her to limp and made it difficult to walk her dog for more than 15 minutes.
Upon examining her leg, her niece excluded skeletal and muscular causes of the pain and referred Miss Wilson to her general practitioner, noting she thought the pain was vascular.
Her niece would later go on to tell police Miss Wilson had a history of high blood pressure and that in the months leading up to her death she had been complaining about losing balance when making quick movements.