KEY POINTS:
The brother of TV3 weather presenter Toni Marsh is fighting for his life after suffering severe head injuries when he fell from an apartment building in central Auckland.
Glenn Marsh, 37, was listed in a critical condition in Auckland Hospital yesterday, after he fell from the first-floor outdoor
terrace eight days ago, and doctors are understood to have warned of a grim prognosis.
The apartment belongs to property developer David Southcombe, who lives there with his fiancee, reality TV star Aja Rock.
Last night, the Auckland City Council said it would launch an investigation into the lack of railings on the terrace - a glass barrier was only erected six days after the incident.
Southcombe and Rock were hosting a party last Friday night, and this carried on well into Saturday morning. The couple had just arrived back from Rock's son's soccer match, when Marsh, an Auckland DJ, fell at about 11am.
"We saw a party and thought it was unusual, because it was in the morning," a neighbour told the Herald on Sunday yesterday. "I went out to check the mail and there were people on the roof and dancing inside. I could hear loud music and saw people standing on the roof. It was 10 or 11 in the morning and I thought 'well, they've been going all night'."
Another neighbour said a group of people were standing around the injured man. "I just thought maybe they had collapsed drinking, or something. I thought 'Oh God, I hope they haven't fallen off the roof'."
Auckland City Council will be investigating the building, on the corner of Great North Rd and Turakina St, tomorrow.
The Herald on Sunday understands Aja Rock's former partner, William Murdoch, contacted the council about 11 months ago, concerned about the lack of barriers. The couple have a young child. Murdoch was reluctant to comment yesterday.
Last night, the council said it was aware of a complaint but understood it was in relation to windows leading to the terrace.
The council's manager of building control, Ian McCormack, said the building was currently under construction and had five approved building consents.
"Basically, under the Building Code, a completed works has got to have a fence of a requisite size on it. There's no two ways about it.
"You'd certainly expect the person who owns the property would recognise works that make the building unsecure and take some action to make sure it's not being used. You'd think that was pretty damn obvious. We'll certainly be looking to talk to the owners of this premises on Monday to see what the situation is."
A glass barrier was erected on the terrace late last week.
Rock and Southcombe's lawyer, Stuart Cummings, said last night the incident was a tragedy and could have happened to anybody. He said the couple did not know the injured man - he had been there with another guest.
"I said to David yesterday, 'Hey, it could have happened to me'. I have a balcony on my bach which is a whole lot higher than his one and we didn't have a railing on it for a long time. It's a project. You don't put the balustrades on the decks first because you often load materials onto your deck."
Another source said building regulations were bizarre. People could still live in apartments and buildings while they did not have code of compliance certificates. "You can live in a place that has no floor [and] be a danger to whoever - all they [council] say is, 'you have to do this'."
The Herald on Sunday went to the apartment on Friday, where Aja Rock said she would not be commenting "out of respect for Toni".
Rock said earlier, via text: "I've been better." In another text, she described the situation as a "nightmare".
Last night, Cummings, speaking on behalf of the couple, said: "It's an absolute tragedy . Their hearts go out to the family of the victim and they want people to concentrate their thoughts on him. Their thoughts are on the poor guy who has suffered a serious injury, his family who will be grieving for his injury."
A distraught Toni Marsh, who was off work all last week, yesterday declined to comment. She and her brother are understood to be extremely close. In a Herald on Sunday article in late 2004, Marsh recalled close family holidays with her brother.
Last night, Marsh's friends paid tribute to the DJ.
"Glenn was always in fine form," said one friend, an ex-flatmate.
"He always wears his heart on his sleeve. He is a very joyful, light-hearted person and the fact that this has happened to him just highlights the whole tragedy of it. You just don't know what you have got and how lucky you are.
"He is a great guy. He is very kind-hearted and definitely has a love of life; he could always bring a smile to people's faces."
People in the close-knit music scene have also been rallying around the Marsh family.
"He is really quiet but really nice," said a fellow DJ. "He is not really somebody who is in your face all the time but in the background. He is a really nice lad." -
