Twin survived early birth only to drown 7 years on

By BRIDGET CARTER

They were twins born 15 weeks early who survived against the odds - only for one of them to die in a triple drowning tragedy more than seven years later.

Joshua and Tabitha Robinson weighed only 700g at birth and doctors were not certain if they would survive.

They spent more than three months in an incubator at National Women's Hospital under the care of paediatrician Dr Simon Rowley.

Dr Rowley spoke yesterday at the funeral of Joshua, 7, and his big sister Christle, 16, who were drowned a week ago yesterday at Browns Bay in Auckland.

Tabitha was rescued.

"They were quite robust for being extremely premature," said Dr Rowley.

"Three years on I was proud of the two healthy children who came through with flying colours."

The funeral came as people learned of the death of Rosemary Hosie - the woman who risked her life to save Tabitha.

She died about 3am yesterday after almost a week on life support in North Shore Hospital.

Her death means the tragedy has now claimed three lives.

At the Robinson funeral yesterday, people heard how Joshua, like his twin sister, had a bigheart, loved the outdoors, adoredanimals and enjoyed playing videogames.

His teacher at Coatesville School, Judy Herde, said he was the easygoing twin, whereas Tabitha was the organised one.

Joshua was a pleasure to teach.

Then teenagers got up and spoke about Christle - a funloving, caring, Christian friend who liked to talk on the phone, go to movies and the beach, and who could not walk away from her art work until it was perfect.

Christle had wanted to be a forensic scientist because she was good at science at Rangitoto College and liked the television programme Crime Scene Investigation.

A friend of the family said she had fond memories of Joshua's cheeky laugh and the mornings she would pick up Christle to take her to school.

"She would be running down the stairs with a brush in her hand and a bowl of cereal she had not finished. It was an awesome way to start the day."

The Robinson family thanked Mrs Hosie yesterday as the news came that she had died at 3am.

Mrs Hosie went into the water to save the three Robinsons, along with Auckland accountant Joern Boestlemann and another man, who tried unsuccessfully to save Christle and who wishes to remain anonymous.

The conditions around 4pm were sunny and calm and the trio were seen splashing around some distance from the shore away from their boogie boards.

At the time, their mother was at the hairdresser at Rothesay Bay.

Mr Boestlemann said he swam out and brought Joshua back to shore, then went back for Christle, who was being held up by MrsHosie.

But by the time he went back for Mrs Hosie, she was in trouble and was taken to hospital that night in critical condition.

While she spent the week on life support, police and family contacted two of her three daughters, who were travelling through New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

The daughter in Asia was reached late on Thursday.

Mrs Hosie's husband, Bryson, said he wanted to thank all the people who had helped with the care and rescue of his wife.