Marriage followed protection plea
Bruce Moat took out a protection order against his wife five years before she pushed him down a flight of steps causing fatal injuries, new details reveal.
Mouat died of a blunt force head injury in July 2011 after falling down steps outside the front door of his South Taranaki home and hitting his head on a concrete paver at the bottom.
For five years it was thought his death was accidental but in 2016 his wife Susan Elizabeth Mouat, 52, admitted pushing him and on Monday pleaded guilty to his manslaughter in the High Court at New Plymouth.
The police summary of facts states the couple had been in a relationship for at least 10 years before Mouat’s death.
In 2006 he applied for a protection order against Susan which was granted by the Hawera District Court; however the couple went on to marry in 2009.
On the evening of the fall, Mouat, who was a machine operator for Fonterra and a team leader for the emergency response team at the factory, had been drinking at a work function at the Hawera RSA.
About 1am on July 16, 2011, he was taken home by colleagues. He was extremely intoxicated and had to be helped to the front door, which he was trying to open when Susan got out of bed and did it.
‘‘They had a verbal argument in the front porch and in the kitchen of the house during which the deceased fell over a chair,’’ the summary said.
Susan told Mouat to leave and took his car keys off him. ‘‘The deceased attempted to push his way back into the house but the defendant pushed him to the chest.’’
The shove caused Mouat to fall backwards off the porch before striking his head. He was taken to Hawera Hospital, then transferred to Taranaki Base Hospital before being flown to Wellington Hospital where he had emergency surgery for his head injury.
Mouat never regained consciousness and died 11 days later.
Susan gave two statements to police in 2011, stating she was not involved in her husband’s fall. In August 2016 she was interviewed by police in Napier and continued to deny any involvement. However two months later she admitted pushing Mouat.
‘‘She stated that she never intended to cause him any harm but just wanted him to go.’’
A 2012 coroner’s report into the 48-year-old’s death found there had been no foul play involved but five years later, Susan was arrested and charged with manslaughter.
Coroner Tim Scott’s findings stated that when Mouat drank he would drink far too much. ‘‘Susan stated that alcohol had caused issues within their relationship.’’
Two women took Mouat home and one had to walk him up the steps because he was stumbling but she didn’t knock on the door because she was scared of Susan, the summary said.
Mouat’s death was not regarded as one that required the coroner until Hawera police advised of known domestic violence issues.
There had been rumour and speculation after Susan hugged her sister-in-law at the funeral and said ‘‘how does it feel to hug a murderer?’’, Scott’s findings said.
She later said she could not remember making the comment and claimed if she had it would have been ‘‘black humour’’.
Susan Mouat will be sentenced on October 13. John Williams has been voted in as a councillor on New Plymouth District Council in the North Ward byelection. The by-election was called after long time Waitara councillor and deputy mayor Craig McFarlane resigned after suffering a stroke earlier this year. Williams, who owns Waitara’s New World, won the seat with 741 votes, ahead of Vicky Dombroski with 605, Pam Street on 476, Jonathan Marshall with 451 and Bill Simpson on 311. The vote return was 34 per cent of the registered voters in the North Ward. The date for Williams’s swearing-in has not been confirmed.
A woman was taken to hospital after a two car crash in New Plymouth. Police, fire and ambulance staff were called to the scene, at the intersection of Lemon St and Eliot St, about 9am yesterday. Senior Constable Jason Koch said it appeared one vehicle was on Lemon St and trying to cross Eliot St. A gap was left in a queue of cars to let the vehicle through and it has collided with another car coming down Eliot St heading toward the coast, Koch said. He said one female driver was taken to Taranaki Base Hospital by St John ambulance. Inquiries are continuing, Koch said.
Police are using Facebook to warn people in Bell Block about burglaries after two daytime break-ins in the last five days. The post encouraged people to ensure their homes were secured and to try and make it look like someone was home even it they were not. Acting Sergeant David Lee said the burglaries were not a crime wave but urged people to report any suspicious activity immediately.