Porirua human remains: Coroner rules on Patricia Burt’s death, visits site where skeleton was found

• A coroner has made a final ruling on the death of Patricia Burt, whose remains were found in Porirua 36 years after her disappearance from a psychiatric hospital
• Burt’s daughter, Hilary Martin, believes her mother was “taken” to the spot, which Coroner Mark Wilton also visited
• Police found no evidence of foul play, and Burt’s cause of death remains “unascertainable”

A coroner has visited the site where a Wellington woman’s skeleton lay hidden for decades, and says he can understand why her family question whether she got there herself.

Coroner Mark Wilton has nevertheless ruled it’s more likely than not that Patricia Burt reached the isolated spot on her own, but said it would be speculative to rule on whether her death was intentionally self-inflicted.

Meanwhile, Burt’s daughter said there were still many unanswered questions, and she and her family believe Burt was “taken” to the spot by someone else.

A ruling has been publicly released today, 36 years after Burt, 69, disappeared from a Porirua psychiatric hospital on Easter Weekend 1988.

Her daughter, Hilary Martin, earlier told the Herald that Burt had struggled with mental health issues her entire life and had been taken to Porirua Hospital many times, where she received electroshock therapy.

Her brother reported Burt missing, but did not have any luck with police.

Patricia Theresa Burt was a beautiful piano player, daughter Hilary Martin said.

“[The officer] seemed invested but as soon as he said she went missing from Porirua Hospital he slammed his pen down on the desk and said ‘we don’t look for missing persons from Porirua Hospital’,” Martin earlier said.

A coroner’s ruling was released at the end of April 1991, which stated Burt was “presumed dead after being reported missing . . . and presumed to have died from exposure”.

For years, her family had no clue as to where she’d gone or what happened to her, until a chance discovery by a man searching a rugged, isolated section of Whitireia Park for nesting seabirds.

The man discovered Burt’s skeleton on a steep section of the park in dense bush at the end of January this year.

In today’s follow-up coronial ruling, Coroner Wilton said a full post-mortem examination had since been conducted on Burt’s remains, but the pathologist had reported the cause of death was “unascertainable”.

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“Upon the discovery of her skeletal remains, police have further investigated the circumstances of Mrs Burt’s death, in the context of both the previous police investigation and the inquest findings. They advise that the circumstances of Mrs Burt’s death remain unsuspicious and there is no new evidence to suggest any other person was involved,” Coroner Wilton said.

Police believe Burt died in or around the spot her remains were found.

“While it is not known precisely how she travelled from the old Porirua Hospital to Titahi Bay, it is known that Mrs Burt was a public transport user,” he said.

“Police advise that the most likely route Mrs Burt took to the location where her remains were found was on foot from Titahi Bay, around the flat coastal walkway of Whitirea Park, via Onepoto Rd. There is an approximate distance of 200 metres from the point on the coastal walkway immediately below the location of Mrs Burt’s skeletal remains.”

Burt had visited the beach at Titahi Bay with family members the day before her disappearance, the coroner noted.

Patricia Burt's remains were found on this steep slope under dense undergrowth, which has since been cleared so her skeleton could be removed.

Martin and her husband this year visited the place where Burt’s remains were found, and Martin later said she did not believe her mother could have reached the spot under her own steam.

She described the area as a “God-forsaken place”.

“My husband and I feel very blessed, although it was a traumatic experience, to have gone to the site with the police.

“My family and I feel that there are so many unanswered questions, such as how did Mum get to that impossible site, was there foul play, and are people perhaps now deceased who know more?”

She questioned how Burt could have reached the area on her own, in slippers and with osteoporosis.

“The site was far too difficult for anybody to get there. Someone would have to be an Olympian or very fit person to be able to climb the rugged hill we climbed,” she said.

Coroner Wilton said he visited the site in October.

“I can understand why Mrs Burt’s family might question how it came to be that her skeletal remains were found at such location,” he said.

Patricia Burt's remains were found near the centre of the section of bush in this picture. Image / Google Earth

“The location is remote in that it is in bush, just over 7km from where Mrs Burt had been staying at the old Porirua Hospital.

“The location is on a hillside and therefore steep. While it would have been challenging for Mrs Burt to walk up the hillside from the flat coastal walkway, the 200 metres climb up is certainly not impossible.”

Coroner Wilton said on the evidence before him it would be “speculative” to suggest a reason why Burt decided to travel to this location, or whether her death was intentionally self-inflicted.

“I am however of the view that it is more probable than not that Mrs Burt accessed the location by foot, walking via the flat coastal walkway of Whitirea Park, via Onepoto Rd around Titahi Bay, Porirua and then climbed up the hillside.”

Hilary and Myles Martin travelled with Detective Senior Sergeant Hamish Blackburn (right) to the site where Patricia Burt's remains were found.

He said the 1988 inquest findings were unaffected by the discovery of her remains, and that it simply served to provide clarity about where she died.

“I express my sincere condolences to Mrs Burt’s family for their loss and hope that the discovery of her skeletal remains provides some comfort and closure to them.”

Speaking to the Herald following the release of the coroner’s ruling, Martin said her mother’s case was “unique” and “very, very difficult”.

“I would have been happy to accept suicide had I gone to the place and had it been like I thought it had been in my mind, but it was totally different, it was totally inaccessible.”

Martin, who now lives in Queensland, said if she had received the first coroner’s ruling in 1991 she would have come to New Zealand herself to investigate, and would have contacted the media for help.

“The coroner may never have come up against a case like this before, he may never come up against another one,” she said.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Hamish Blackburn, earlier told the Herald police had uncovered no evidence of foul play or suspicious activity.

Coroner Mark Wilton visited the site where the remains were found.

“I said to Hilary ‘we are never going to fully understand or have the answers as to how [she] came to be there’,” he said.

There were “a number of possibilities” as to what may have happened to Burt, but the most logical was that she had made her way to the park and taken her own life.

“I guess with her history of mental illness and the previous comments around suicide and ‘if I go to the hospital again I will never be found’, that perhaps that was her intention. I guess we will never fully understand the reasons why,” he said.

“How she came to be up on the hill we don’t know. There’s nothing that we’ve uncovered in this investigation that would lead us to believe there was anything suspicious.”

SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION

Where to get help:
• Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
• What's Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
• Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
• Aoake te Rā (Bereaved by Suicide Service): Call 0800 000 053
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.