Mother Claire McKinnon and grandmother Georgina Tamiana want to preserve the memory of Mihinui as the beautiful young woman she was. Photo / Stephen Parker
Mother Claire McKinnon and grandmother Georgina Tamiana want to preserve the memory of Mihinui as the beautiful young woman she was. Photo / Stephen Parker
After more than two years of "unanswered questions and no justice" the family of a Rotorua teen killed in a warehouse fire are ready to "find peace and move on from this hard time".
An inquest into the death of 14-year-old Mihinui Tamiana was held in Rotorua yesterday in frontof Coroner Dr Wallace Bain.
Evidence was given by Rotorua Detective Sergeant John Wilson and specialist fire investigator Stuart Bootten. Mihinui died in the early hours on June 2, 2013 after the Riri St warehouse she and four other teenagers were sleeping in caught fire.
A Riri St warehouse was destroyed after the fire ripped through the rooms.
Mihinui's two older sisters Darrienne Taputu and Denise McKinnon told the Rotorua Daily Post they had been building themselves up for the coroner's inquest for a long time.
"We are disappointed nobody ever came forward and we have had mixed emotions about this whole process. We harboured a lot of anger and blame for the people there for a long time but we know Mihinui would want us to find peace.
"We have a lot of unanswered questions and it does feel like no justice has been done, but we are ready to move on.
"We are at the stage now where we just want all this to be over so we can focus on healing together as a family, letting go of the past and remembering Mihi as the beautiful, bubbly young lady that she was, rather than the girl at the party who died from the fire," Ms Taputu said.
The inquest heard the teenagers were sleeping in an area described as the mezzanine floor, which had no permanent access and sat just below the roof line.
Earlier in the night a party, which had been well advertised at schools and through social media, was held at the warehouse and was attended by more than 200 people.
Two petrol-powered generators were situated in the kitchen area, which had no access to ventilation, and were being used to run lights and the DJ's equipment.
Mr Wilson said the party organisers had no funnel to fill the generators so instead they poured petrol from a tote tank into a bucket, which they then tipped into the generators.
"Police obtained footage taken by a partygoer ... of one of the refuelling exercises. The footage clearly showed a large amount of petrol being spilled as it was transferred ... As a result the whole floor was awash with fuel."
Mihinui Tamiana
Police shut down the party around 11.30pm after a fight began and by 2am only the five teens intending to stay were left.
At 2.30am two teenagers, who had left the premises earlier, returned to discover the building on fire and raised the alarm.
Both witness accounts said four of the teens trapped by the fire jumped 4.1m from the mezzanine platform on to a concrete floor. Three suffered minor injuries and the fourth suffered "major flash burns".
Mr Wilson said Mihinui "for some reason hesitated and it is believed she was overcome by the smoke and heat.
"Given her position on the mezzanine, so high up, the heat and smoke would have quickly built up in this area, leaving only a small window of opportunity to escape."
Fire investigators have ascertained the fire began in the vicinity of the generator in the kitchen.
Ms McKinnon and Ms Taputu said, in a family statement written for the inquest, that Mihinui was a beautiful, intelligent girl who had a bright future ahead of her.
"She was always happy, popular, sociable and never too shy to meet and greet people. She had that natural glow, a natural beauty that would light up a room when she walked in.
"We would just like to say to everyone out there that anything could happen. Your whole life could change in an instant or be taken away from you. We would never wish this upon any other family so, hopefully, families out there will now be more careful of their children and their whereabouts and that teenagers will look out for each other and think before they put themselves into dangerous situations that could lose lives."
Coroner Wallace Bain said he was touched by the family's tribute to Mihinui and was "very concerned about how the incident had occurred".
"It is almost unbelievable the sheer stupidity surrounding the circumstances of this incident. Without taking away from the tragedy of the loss of Mihinui, imagine if the fire had started when 200 teenagers were on the premises - it would have been utter chaos."
