Motorbike wheelied before fatal carpark crash: Coroner releases report into death of motel manager

Donald Clifford was passionate about motorbikes and was about to start his own business. Photo / Clifford family

A “very well-loved” Havelock North motel manager and experienced motorbike rider died after doing a wheelie then crashing into a wall, a coroner has found.

Donald Gregory Clifford, 27, died in April 2021 following a motorbike crash at his family’s business, the Cherry Grove Motel in Havelock North, where he worked.

A report by Coroner Heather McKenzie publicly released this week found the cause of Clifford’s death was a head injury suffered during the incident. He was not wearing a helmet.

Coroner McKenzie concluded that while the bike did not have a mechanical fault, she could not make any “safe findings” as to why he had crashed into the wall because of the lack of evidence.

Clifford’s mother Karen Clifford said her son “was very well loved” by those who knew him and was a highly experienced rider who liked mentoring younger riders.

“It was an accident,” she said, following the coroner’s report being released.

“He wasn’t hooning around the hotel, the bike had a malfunction and it took off and hit the wall.”

Donald Clifford was well loved by those who knew him. Photo / Clifford family

Karen Clifford said he was just days away from launching a business running motorbike tours and he owned six motorbikes.

“For 27, he was doing really well,” she said.

“The accident was the Thursday night, and that weekend was [going to be] the first weekend he was going up to the Rangitaiki to do [the tours].”

The coroner’s report stated that on the day of the crash, Clifford asked a mechanic friend to come by the motel to check over his bikes.

Clifford told his friend he was having difficulty with the throttle of a new motorcycle, and his mechanic mate adjusted it for him.

“While [the mechanic] was looking at Mr Clifford’s other motorcycle, Mr Clifford started the bike and rode out of the shed,” the report read.

“He was not wearing a helmet.

“A motel guest saw a person ‘speed past’ her unit on a motorcycle and do a wheelie.”

CCTV captured Clifford travelling at speed across a lawn and doing a wheelie but did not capture the crash, nor did anyone witness the crash.

The motel guest and the mechanic heard it and went outside to find Clifford on the ground.

Emergency services leaving the scene of the crash at Havelock North in April 2021. Photo / Paul Taylor

“Mr Clifford had crashed into a wall/the side of the hotel manager’s residence,” the report read.

The Serious Crash Unit (SCU) investigated the incident and “observed that once Mr Clifford lowered his front wheel after the wheelie, he appears to have struggled to control the motorcycle before leaving the grass”.

The SCU investigation found the front wheel of the motorcycle was off the ground when it hit the wall.

Coroner McKenzie concluded, based on evidence from the police, that the motorcycle had no mechanical faults and the environment was not a factor.

“There is no evidence before me that [the mechanic’s] alteration of the throttle immediately before Mr Clifford set off had any impact on the bike’s handling.

“On the evidence before me, I cannot make any safe findings as to why Mr Clifford crashed into the wall.

“It might be that Mr Clifford was unable to regain control of the bike after ending the wheelie.

“However, because the crash was not witnessed and the CCTV camera footage did not include the crash itself, I cannot safely make a finding to this effect.”

She also concluded the cause of death was a head injury suffered in the incident.

Toxicology testing confirmed THC in Clifford’s blood at the time of the crash, which is a constituent of cannabis.

Coroner McKenzie wrote in her report that she was “unable to say what, if any, part this played in the incident”.

A year after the crash, the Port Riders motorcycle club held a Don Clifford Memorial Ride in his memory around the South Island.

He is survived by his mother and four siblings.