KEY POINTS:
A night out at the Beckham show in Wellington turned into tragedy for a Napier family after finance company officer and university graduate Michael Webby died from a fall on his way home to his flat in the city.
Mr Webby was the 29-year-old son of two well-known
teachers, John Webby, principal of Napier's Henry Hill School for the last 16 years, and Jill Webby, a teacher at Mahora School in Hastings for the last 12 years.
Michael died in the arms of his girlfriend of three years, Hilary Sutherland, after a 20m fall through a gap in a rail on the slippery path and steps outside the hillside Kelburn Rd flat, near Wellington's Botanical Gardens.
His father said Michael was trying to stand up after slipping on an unlit part of the path the couple had climbed on their way home from spending Saturday night in a corporate box at football star David Beckham's match for LA Galaxy against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium.
The gap in the rail through which he then fell backwards was barely a metre wide, and the only gap in the rail, Mr Webby said.
Ms Sutherland had to run down to the road to try to revive her partner, getting emergency help after waving down a taxi.
Originally from Palmerston North, she is with the Webby family at their Taradale home preparing for a funeral tomorrow, at a time of year when John Webby was anticipating they would be talking more and more about a wedding next year.
No date had been set, he said, but the couple, who met in Melbourne about three years ago, were planning to marry.
The couple had spent about two years in London before returning to New Zealand in February to live in Wellington, where Michael took up a job with Strategic Finance and Ms Sutherland worked for the Ministry of Justice.
An A-bursary student, with an arts degree from Massey and Otago universities after his secondary schooling at Taradale High School and St John's College, he was doing well at his job, Mr Webby said.
"They were both doing really well - at the top of their game," he said.
In Wellington both had become true fans of events at Westpac Stadium, initially for rugby, which Michael had played in his school days, but also at rugby league and more recently following the fortunes of Phoenix in the Australasian soccer A-League.
Michael was also a music buff, with a reputable "encyclopaedia" of information, and an interest in guitar.
His only sister, London lawyer Emma, 27, arrived home yesterday for the funeral which will start in St Patrick's Catholic Church, Napier, at 2pm tomorrow.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES