Victim's family beg for cliff safety

By JO-MARIE BROWN

A grieving family have asked Taupo's coroner to help improve the safety of a cliff edge from which at least 62 people have fallen in the past 10 years.

The cliff, running along the edge of Lake Taupo opposite a string of popular bars and cafes, is fenced off with posts and chains.

But every year, visitors to the town - who are not aware of the 12m drop - step over the chains to urinate in bushes after they have been drinking and slip over the edge.

Last December, Wellington builder Greig Robert Warner broke his neck and died when he fell on to the blackberry bushes below.

It was the first fatal fall at the cliff in 15 years, but many other people have broken bones and suffered serious injuries in the past.

Yesterday Mr Warner's family and friends told Taupo coroner Morna McFarlane they believed the 22-year-old's death would have been preventable had the Taupo District Council erected more obvious barriers along the cliff edge.

Research by a family friend and police inspector, Ian Manawaiti, showed at least 62 people had fallen over the lakefront cliffs since 1993, mostly in the vicinity of Lake Terrace Reserve, where Mr Warner died.

"These numbers are unacceptable," Mr Manawaiti said. "This is a significant public safety issue."

After Mr Warner's death, the Taupo District Council immediately erected additional warning signs, wire and yellow-taped the fence, but a further seven people climbed over it and fell three days later on New Year's Eve.

The council proposed a 140m-long aluminium fence, but abandoned the idea because of public outrage.

Locals said such a fence would be an eyesore and block scenic lake and mountain views.

Instead, the council has ordered the addition of extra chains and a landscaping and environmental impact report on long-term options.

Mr Manawaiti said the council had a responsibility under the Reserves Act to ensure that public places under their control were safe.

Emergency services personnel and doctors who treated fall victims had complained about the need to improve the safety of the area.

The Warner family cited fences along the Huka Falls and Auckland's Grafton Bridge as examples of secure measures and urged the coroner to recommend "severe barriers" be erected to prevent more deaths.

Mr Warner's aunt, Kim Honiss, said the family did not accept that responsibility lay with the public or that drinking alcohol and urinating in public was to blame.

"You cannot avoid a risk if you don't know it is there," she said.

The coroner has reserved her recommendations.