TOP STORY: Boys lit the fire that killed them, coroner finds

By Bay Times Court Reporter
Playing with a cigarette lighter or matches in a home that did not have smoke alarms claimed the lives of young Tauranga brothers Kahvan and Cayden Beatty.
That is the Tauranga Coroner's "tragic" finding into the deaths of the "loving and gorgeous boys", who perished when their Otumoetai home become a blazing inferno in June.
In Tauranga Coroner's Court yesterday, their mother, Natasha Beatty, sobbed loudly as coroner Michael Cooney recounted the horrific June 16 morning when curiosity stole the lives of her two sons.
"The two boys are most likely to have been the cause of the fire. They lit the fire," Mr Cooney said.
Forensic findings show that in the early hours of that terrifying morning, four-year-old Kahvan and two-year-old Cayden got their little hands on either matches or a lighter - subsequently setting the household sofa ablaze.
"Exactly how the fire started is a matter of conjecture but the evidence shows the boys may have been playing with a naked flame," Mr Cooney said.
While forensic experts were unable to locate anything to confirm their suspicions, they did find a spring - believed to have come from a cigarette lighter.
An in-depth investigation into the boys' death showed that at 3am Natasha Beatty awoke and got up along with her youngest son.
After stoking the fire and having a cigarette they both settled back to sleep in Natasha Beatty's bed.
At 6am that morning, the pair were awoken by the family's kittens and four-year-old Kahvan muscling his way into the double bed.
It is believed the boys left their mother's bed shortly afterwards - leaving her to go back to sleep.
Awaking to a crackling sound and a room full of black smoke at 7.20am, Natasha Beatty ran to her daughter Shaydine's room and led the 6-year-old out the back door.
In an attempt to pull her two sons from danger she then re-entered the property but was forced back because the heat and smoke was so intense.
The children's father, Grant Beatty, was not home at the time.
Several witness also tried but failed to pull the young boys from the inferno.
Three weeks later in a letter to the Bay of Plenty Times, Natasha Beatty described the morning of June 16 as the worst day of her life. She said she had awoken to a loud banging noise and gave a detailed account of how she tried repetitively to push through her smoke filled home to her two boys - screaming in terror.
The coroner concluded both children died as a result of smoke inhalation and subsequent incineration - a result that could have been avoided had household smoke alarms been installed.
"We need to guard against access by children to matches and cigarette lighters - a momentary lapse can lead to fire.
"Young children should not be able to get their hands on dangerous materials that have the ability to result in dangerous consequences. The fire was so advanced the boys had little chance of survival - their mother's best endeavours could not save them."
However, Mr Cooney said had smoke alarms been fitted in the cream-coloured bungalow, the boys could be alive today.
"If smoke alarms were installed, the boys' mother would have awoken a lot earlier and she would have had a better opportunity to save her boys. There would have been a much greater chance of them being pulled out alive."
In light of this finding, Mr Cooney said he would be calling for changes when it came to the installation of smoke alarms in residential homes nationwide.
"I will be recommending to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Fire Service that further steps should be taken to get fire alarms into New Zealand homes."
It is a proven fact that fire alarms save lives, he said.
"A high percentage of fatal fires can be avoided with smoke alarms."