It's unknown if the death of Luke Cochrane, 19, was due to an accident or something more sinister, a coroner has ruled. Photo/Supplied
It's unknown if the death of Luke Cochrane, 19, was due to an accident or something more sinister, a coroner has ruled. Photo/Supplied
Fire Service and Emergency has been cleared of any wrongdoing over the death of a 19-year-old who drowned in Whitianga after a function at the local fire station.
However, Coroner Gordon Matenga said there was no evidence of any external trauma or injury on Lucas Cochrane's body so it would never be known whether the cause of death was accidental or the result of something more sinister.
Coroner Matenga held an inquest into Cochrane's death in Hamilton last month and released his findings today.
The inquest heard that Cochrane and his friends, Bailey Kidd and Taine Douglas, arrived in Whitianga about midnight on Friday, September 23, and checked into their book-a-bach accommodation.
Three other friends were also staying at the property, including Cole Davies.
The function at the Whitianga Fire Station was a memorial for Davies' father, Bradley, a volunteer firefighter who died in 2015.
Station chief fire officer Merv George was Davies' brother-in-law and hosted the memorial.
Dave Cochrane, father of Lucas Cochrane, believes the Fire Service should have taken some of the blame over his son's drowning last year. Photo/Belinda Feek
After fish and chips for lunch, Cochrane and his friends began drinking. They left their accommodation about 3pm, picked up alcohol, and arrived at the station about 4pm.
Food was served and the fire service canteen was open, serving drinks.
Davies told the inquest the friends came up with the idea that he and Cochrane would play a drinking game, involving a rugby league game on television, where Cochrane would drink every time the Canberra Raiders made a mistake.
"He didn't actually end up doing it until it was about 20 or 30 minutes into the game. He took a scull of the rum and threw it all up everywhere straight away. Her threw up over two chairs and onto the ground."
After helping clean up the mess, Cochrane, who still seemed in good spirits, went outside about 10.30pm never to be seen again.
The group of friends reported Cochrane missing after he failed to return to the bach before they left Whitianga the following morning.
His body was found three days later, after his cap was found on a wooden seat outside a nearby Aquila Ave property.
Luke Cochrane's body was found in this body of water off Aquila Dr, Whitianga, in September last year. Photo/Belinda Feek
However, on behalf of Cochrane's family, lawyer Brian Gould said they held serious concerns around the fire brigade using its canteen during the function, saying it was a breach of policy.
Caroline Steele, of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission, said canteens could be used for official brigade functions hosted by brigade members.
George accepted the function did not meet the requirements of an "official brigade function as set out in our code of practice".
"I also fully understand that alcohol not purchased from the canteen cannot be consumed in the canteen. I accept that the fact this has occurred on the night of the function was a serious breach of the Fire Service canteen policy," he told the coroner.
But Gould went as far to say that by letting Cochrane and his friends bring their own alcohol to the function, that the brigade contributed to his death.
Cochrane had a blood alcohol level of 264mlg.
However, Matenga disagreed.
The breach of policy had resulted in the station losing its ability to sell alcohol in the canteen, but it was "stretching credulity too far to suggest that the breach of the policy has been a causative factor in the death of Mr Cochrane".
"Mr Cochrane had certainly had a lot to drink and by any measure, was affected by the amount of alcohol he had consumed. There is however a large gap in the evidence in that it is not known what Mr Cochrane did when he left the fire station at around 10.30pm or when he went into the waterway."
The coroner found Cochrane, of Papakura, drowned on or about September 24, 2016.
