Carer describes fatal cliff fall
A fence will be built at a popular Canterbury lookout spot following the death of an intellectually disabled man who slipped and fell while having his photo taken.
Christchurch man Darryl Kitto, 47, was under the care of community mental health service Emerge Aotearoa when he died in April last year at Rakaia Gorge in Mid-Canterbury.
Kitto was under a compulsory care and rehabilitation order because he had committed a crime.
A coronial inquest in Christchurch yesterday heard Kitto and his carers stopped at a popular lookout spot.
Carer Kathleen O’Shea was fighting back tears when she told coroner Sue Johnson that Kitto had asked for his photo to be taken.
She took one picture, then Kitto asked for another from a different angle so he could have the river behind him, she said. She helped him down to a lower section of a mound they were on and let go of his hand to take the photo.
‘‘He was stable when he let go of my hand,’’ she said.
As she was looking at her phone to take the photo, he slipped and fell about 30 metres into the gorge.
The carers heard ‘‘no sound; he just went’’, O’Shea said.
‘‘I started screaming and looked down below . . . Darryl had just gone.’’
O’Shea described Kitto as a ‘‘big and strong man, quite physically fit and active’’. She told the coroner she was not aware of him having any balance issues.
Helen Duncan told the coroner her brother was ‘‘clumsy’’ and ‘‘walked in big strides’’.
New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) traffic and safety manager Tony Spowart told the coroner the popular lookout spot posed a risk as it had no fence around the steep slope into the gorge. NZTA would install a fence around the car park perimeter to avoid further accidents, he said.
Senior Constable Andrew Grant, who was at the scene, told the inquest police were satisfied there was no criminal liability or suspicious circumstances surrounding Kitto’s death.
Coroner Sue Johnson said a pathologist investigating what had caused Kitto’s death had concluded he had broken his neck, which crushed his spinal chord and led to him inhaling his vomit. She believed Kitto’s death was an accident. Her written findings would be released at a later date.