EMILY’S FATHER CHARGED OVER TRAGIC DROWNING
Michael Saunders drove across a swollen river to pick up two men caught by the torrent. But his 2-year-old daughter and a man were swept away. Now, police have charged him with causing their deaths.
The father of a 2-year-old girl who was swept away along with the man who tried to save her has been charged over the deaths.
Police accuse Michael Saunders of dangerous driving causing the deaths of his daughter Emily and Barry Petrie, 66.
It is almost a year to the day since Saunders’ attempt to drive across a swollen West Coast river ended in tragedy.
Saunders, driving an Isuzu Bighorn with four passengers on board – his wife Sandra, Emily, Petrie and a possum trapper – were crossing the Poerua River, near Harihari, when the SUV became stuck.
All five got out and tried to reach shore. A passenger carried Emily, but she was swept out of his grip. Petrie swam after her, but both were caught by the torrent.
Searchers found his body downstream, on the beach south of the river mouth, the next day.
Emily’s body was never found and the search was eventually called off.
The number of fatalities could have been far worse.
Speaking at the time of the accident, Sandra Saunders said she would have drowned in the raging West Coast river without the heroic efforts of a possum hunter who grabbed her from the water.
Michael Saunders also swam after his daughter, but could not reach her. West Coasters continued to search for her body for a month.
Saunders did not want to comment about the charges when contacted yesterday. But in the aftermath of Emily’s death, he said the family could not believe the ‘‘incredible’’ community response to their tragedy.
Michael and Sandra had been working as sharemilkers on Anne and Frank Simpson’s nearby farm.
This week Anne Simpson said the ordeal was still ‘‘too upsetting’’ for Saunders to even talk about. ‘‘It’s pretty hard going for them.’’ Michael Saunders had since quit sharemilking.
‘‘He’s driving trucks, he’s changed his job from dairy farming,’’ said Simpson.
Saunders was due to appear in the Christchurch District Court on Friday, via video link from Greymouth, but the appearance was abandoned.
It was his sixth court date to face the charges.
‘‘They’ve kept putting this damn thing off,’’ said Anne Simpson, who has had Michael and Sandra Saunders staying at her home since the double drowning on June 9 last year.
The couple would soon move to Ashburton where Michael Saunders would take up a new job, Simpson said.
‘‘They haven’t given us a date for when the next court appearance is.’’
Michael Saunders’ family came from the United Kingdom for a month to help support the couple and their two other daughters.
The West Coast Lions Club helped fund their trip.
Psychologist Lucy Hone, who lost her 12-year-old daughter, Abi, in a road accident in 2014, said ‘‘my heart goes out to the family’’.