Body’s ‘deathly pallor’ haunts man
The drive along Great South Road south of Huntly was once a trivial activity for Dayna Kete.
That all changed on July 10, 2017. During a trip to the movies for his son’s birthday, Kete discovered the body of Jayden Davis, 24, next to the train tracks in Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia.
‘‘I thought it was a mannequin, then I saw a man’s body ... the deathly pallor of him.’’
Kete recalled the moment at an inquest into Davis’ death at the High Court at Hamilton on Thursday.
The father-of-three was last seen two days’ prior, on July 8, at the Tribal Pride concert at Tu¯ rangawaewae Marae.
Kete was there, too, in an organising capacity but did not recall seeing Davis.
Davis’ family and friends reported him missing to police the day after the concert and circulated a missing person report on social media.
Kete was driving along Great South Rd/State Highway 1 when he saw a ‘‘flash’’ of a man’s face.
‘‘I did a u-turn in my car, back up State Highway 1 (Great South Rd) in the general direction of the flax bushes and train track. I got another flash at the same spot, so I pulled to the left side.
‘‘Across the road, before I even got to the bushes, I saw a man’s body. The next day, I heard in the news that kids had found him and I thought, no, I found him.
‘‘When I looked back at the flashes I had, I can’t explain it. I’ve only just started driving back to that spot again.’’
Davis suffered several injuries to the back of his body, evidence consistent with being hit from a train from behind, pathologist Dr Duncan Lamont told the coroner.
Lamont said it was most likely Davis was hit around 2am as blood testing showed he had stopped drinking hours before his death. He said it was likely that Davis died fairly quickly and as a result of injuries sustained when he was hit.
Coroner Matenga said there was one train at 10.21pm on Saturday, one at 12.20am on Sunday and at 2.42am.
Kiwirail inspected all their units but found no evidence of collision with a person.
The inquest heard from Davis’ partner and mother of his children, Ashton-Leigh Whatarangi, who was with him the night he went missing.
The pair decided to travel from their home in Te Kauwhata and attend the Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia concert with friends.
The group was drinking and had two vans with sober drivers who took them to the concert.
Whatarangi said the last time she saw Davis he was drunk but was in a good, jovial mood. The group left that night after the concert finished but Davis was nowhere to be seen.
Sometime during the night a fight broke out outside the marae, Detective Geoff Evans told the inquest.
Although it wasn’t clear what Davis’ involvement was, Whatarangi believes her partner was trying to break up a fight. Evans also said Tu¯ rangawaewae Marae had applied to the local council for a liquor licence but it wasn’t granted as there was not enough time for council to make a decision.
However, the event went ahead and liquor was sold. Evans told the coroner the police investigation was as comprehensive as possible and there was heavy rain that night.
He said it was likely that Davis started walking home, to Te Kauwhata, along the train tracks.
Coroner Matenga agreed.
‘‘It is my view that as the evening was ending, Mr Davis has more than likely searched for his family but was unable to find them,’’ Matenga said.
‘‘It is also most likely he sheltered somewhere from heavy rain that occurred after the concert ended. He would have been tired, and it’s quite clear he didn’t notice that train coming from behind him.’’
The coroner ruled Davis died from injuries sustained from being hit by a train. He ruled his death accidental.