Tributes to chainsaw accident victim
A Taranaki businessman has paid tribute to a former employee who bled to death after a freak chainsaw accident.
Tree surgeon Alexander Kirkley had returned home to England after working in New Zealand and died after the chainsaw he was using at the top of a tree ‘‘kicked back’’, severing his jugular artery.
Kirkley had spent most of his three years here in New Plymouth, where he worked for Tui Landscaping.
He left the company just before Christmas last year, Tui Landscape owner Grant Hall said.
Kirkley had hoped to return to New Zealand to set up an eco-village, and had been saving to buy land and drawing up plans.
Hall described Kirkley, who was 32, as a careful, timid and intelligent man.
‘‘None of us can understand it,’’ he said. While working, Hall said Kirkley would act with exceptional care to keep himself and colleagues safe.
Kirkley left behind ‘‘a vast network of friends from a vast array of backgrounds,’’ Hall said, and a pohutakawa tree had been planted in his memory.
His friends and colleagues knew about his goal to establish a sustainable lifestyle and community in New Zealand.
‘‘He was probably more sensitive than most Kiwi males,’’ Hall said.
At the inquest in Oxford, a written statement from his mother was presented to the jury, The Mail Online reported.
‘‘Alexander was an amazing young man whose enthusiasm and zest for life came through in everything he did,’’ she said. ‘‘He visited more than 13 countries and interested people wherever he went.
‘‘He lived in an eco-friendly way and it was his dream to build and live in an ecofriendly village in New Zealand.’’
His family were planning on how to continue his legacy, with the Alexander Tree Trust and other sustainable living initiatives.