Young motocross rider Jack Willson would have died instantly in Taupō crash, coroner’s inquest hears

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A 10-year-old boy died instantly when he came off his motocross bike because of the way he landed, according to two pathologists giving evidence in a coroner’s hearing.

The death of Jack Willson at the Digger McEwen Motocross Park in Taupō on April 30, 2023 is the subject of an inquest before Coroner Ian Telford in the Rotorua Coroner’s Court this week.

On the opening day on Monday, the inquest heard from Jack’s father, John, a trained first responder and a Fire and Emergency New Zealand officer, who was first to get to Jack when he fell from his bike. Willson immediately began CPR.

An inquest into the death of 10-year-old Jack Willson is under way before a coroner in Rotorua.

John Willson said in his evidence he didn’t blame anyone for his son’s death but said the accident happened because of the change in the design of the track. He said the change allowed the riders to take a corner more quickly than previously.

In anticipation of taking the corner more quickly, Jack, a Pukekohe Motorcycle Club representative, took a “whoops” bump leading up to the corner too fast, Willson said in his evidence.

Willson said his son lost his centre of balance, his feet came off the pegs and he went into a “superman” position, holding on to the handles with his legs out. He then “hit the throttle”, his bike accelerated and the force drove Jack into the ground head-first. Jack’s body continued to roll with momentum into the treeline.

Pathologist Dr Timothy Sutton gave evidence on Tuesday saying Jack would have died from instant injuries suffered as a result of atlanto occipital injury, or in layman’s terms, the spine coming away from the skull, after his chin was driven into the ground at speed.

“If he had just face-planted, he probably would have survived with the helmet and body armour but the fact that his body has gone over the top and extended the neck, pushing his head upwards and backwards, that’s an enormous amount of force on it and would have inevitably caused issues.”

An inquest into the death of 10-year-old Jack Willson is under way before a coroner in Rotorua.

His evidence was backed up by another pathologist, Dr Len Wakefield, who said there was nothing any of the first responders could have done.

When asked by Coroner’s Court counsel Alysia Gordon if Willson’s action of removing his son’s helmet to give CPR would have caused more damage to the neck, Wakefield said it was appropriate as it had been established Jack wasn’t breathing.

“But the nature of the injury was fatal. There was nothing that could have been done,” Wakefield said.

Gordon asked both pathologists if it was possible, given the injuries Jack suffered, that Willson’s version of how Jack crashed was accurate.

Both pathologists agreed, saying it was the action of Jack’s chin being driven into the ground and his body coming up and over the top causing the hyper-extension that had caused the injury.

The Digger McEwen Motocross Park in Taupō.

Taupō Motorcycle Club president Geoffrey Hall gave evidence via audio-visual link about how charges were made to tracks.

Hall said changes were discussed at committee levels and implemented if there was a consensus.

Professional senior riders then rode the tracks to make sure the changes were safe.

Gordon asked Hall how those changes were communicated to riders.

Hall said riders were told at safety briefings before races got under way. He said the club didn’t use its social media channels, such as Facebook.

Coroner Telford asked Hall how the club could be satisfied if changes to tracks were safe.

Hall said the club had faith in the people doing the work because they were experienced and known to the club.

Coroner Telford asked how many children were injured at such events. Hall said there could be up to 450 riders at events and sometimes there were no injuries and other times, there could be two ambulances called for injuries such as broken bones or people who had been knocked out.

Peak Safety contract medic Paul Harrison gave evidence about medical professionals at such events. Coroner Telford asked him if they gave more critical care treatment as opposed to first aid. Harrison said it wouldn’t be a higher percentage.

Coroner Telford asked Harrison if he saw the value of having a paramedic at such events who was able to offer immediate critical care treatment.

Harrison said that would be valuable but he said a lot of the time Peak Safety contractors were able to give care to patients and pain relief while they waited for more highly trained paramedics to arrive.

The inquest is expected to finish today.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.