Railway track death an accident

The family of a Palmerston North mechanic killed on railway tracks near Palmerston North on Christmas Eve say they are glad he did not suffer.

Coroner Tim Scott has found Brent Lowe’s death between 3am and 4am on December 24 was not suicide, but the result of him falling down between the railway lines while attempting to walk home from Bunnythorpe.

The driver of the train that hit him saw something on the tracks, but did not recognise it was a person and would not have been able to stop in time, regardless.

Scott said the mechanic must have either tripped, bumped his head and passed out unconscious, or had simply gone to sleep.

Lowe’s sister Sharlene Lowe said the idea he had committed suicide had never crossed their minds, and the family now believed Lowe did not even know he had been hit.

‘‘Now it’s time to move on to that next step of our grieving process.’’

The loss of her brother was still hard, she said.

‘‘It just doesn’t get any easier to be honest.

‘‘People keep saying it gets easier as time goes on...that could be another five years down the track.’’

She said the coroners ruling had brought back up the memory of his death, but they were glad the chapter was finally closed.

The 25-year-old had been at a Christmas party put on by his employer Chris Gommans the night before he died, and continued to the Bunnythorpe Tavern.

Several offers were made to drive Lowe home, but he had turned them down and continued drinking until 2.19am, when he was recorded on CCTV footage leaving the tavern.

Scott said other people at the party gave varying accounts about whether Lowe was intoxicated, but a post-mortem blood sample recording an alcohol level four and a half times the legal driving limit ‘‘speaks for itself’’.

Lowe’s father Alan told the coroner it was not unusual for his son to walk long distances to get home, and he had walked on the tracks before.

Kiwirail driver Graeme Archer said he had been driving a northbound train that morning, and had seen something on the tracks near Clevely Line that looked about the size of a rubbish bag.

He did not think it was a person, and even if he had recognised a person curled into a ball between the tracks, he would not have been able to stop.

Another driver, Graham Fyfe, was driving south around 6am, after the sun had come up, when he saw something lying on the track, realised it was a dead person, stopped, and reported the incident.

Scott said it had been the northbound train that struck Lowe, and that the death had been inevitable.

Lowe’s father said he did not think his son would have deliberately jumped out in front of the train, and Scott agreed.