Flying fox death: Park owners shut up shop

DEVASTATED: AE Fun Park owner Chris Angus (left) and his partner, Carla Hill, are facing a financial loss while paying respects to the dead man's family.

Park owners need time out after death

Shock is still etched on the faces of Chris Angus and Carla Hill a week after a man plunged to his death from a flying fox at their AE Fun Park near Whangarei.

A cloud now hangs over the Maungakaramea business and the couple have closed the facility until after Christmas out of respect to the family of Moses Tohu, 53, who died during an end-of-year work function at the park.

Mr Angus and Miss Hill say they also need to recover emotionally and support their own children through the effects of the tragic events.

Their decision to shut the gates - cancelling hundreds of pre-bookings at their busiest time of year - will hit them hard in the pocket but they need to take time out to recover from the incident on December 5.

"This is going to take a long, long time to get over," Ms Hill said.

They are devastated by the reaction to the incident, which has included abuse levelled at them on social media and in public.

Ms Hill and Mr Angus said the decision to close temporarily was their own. WorkSafe New Zealand is looking into Mr Tohu's death but have not told the park to close while that investigation is under way.

There is no indication AE Fun Park failed to comply with any safety standards or regulations; in fact, in many instances the operators exceeded those requirements, the company's lawyer, Ken Bailey, said.

Mr Tohu died after falling from a flying fox which he was unauthorised to be on. He was not registered to take part in any activities his work group, from a Bay of Islands company, signed up for during at least three hours at the park that day.

It was compulsory for individuals taking part in any activities to be registered, Ms Hill said.

"In our eyes, Moses was a spectator," she said.

"He did not have, nor would he have been given, permission to use that equipment. Apart from it not being in operation that night, he would not have been eligible because of weight restrictions."

The equipment - which has a weight limit of 110kg - was secured and out of bounds at the time.

A park representative had allegedly told Mr Tohu to leave the flying fox platform area after he was seen there a short while before he took his fatal ride.

Mr Angus said a WorkSafe NZ investigator commented during the scene investigation that Mr Tohu "had gone to great lengths to do what he did in undoing that flying fox".

That included untying the carriage from where it was bound to the railing, undoing carabiners (metal loops) to free its straps, then forcefully pulling the carriage to override a locking mechanism. Clients are normally strapped into a double harness which is in turn attached to the carriage so they are not supporting their body weight and their legs do not hang straight down.

"He seemed determined to take that ride," Mr Angus said.

Mr Tohu fell near the end of the trajectory and it is understood he died from cardiac arrest.

Paramedics were unable to revive him when they arrived, before which several people from his group had tried to help him.

WorkSafe NZ said its findings might not be released for some months. Post-mortem results have been sent to the coroner.