Front up on Libby’s death
Family to dead woman’s partner:
Libby McKay’s partner allegedly tried to strangle her just months before she died after falling from his moving ute, a court has heard.
Two years later, her family want answers about her death but Michael Brown, 29, refused to front a coroner’s inquest, held in Christchurch on Thursday.
Her friends and family gave evidence to the hearing that Brown once tried to strangle McKay and verbally abused her.
Brown is in Australia. Police do not know where. Their only contact with him is through a relative.
McKay, 27, died from head injuries in Christchurch Hospital on June 14, 2013.
She fell from Brown’s moving Toyota Hilux in Halswell Junction Rd, Hornby, about 1.30am on June 9. The couple were returning home after a party in West Melton.
McKay was heavily intoxicated. She slurred her words and stumbled at the party.
Brown told police they argued before she opened the passenger door and ‘‘rolled out’’ while he drove about 70kmh.
Brown denied he pushed McKay out. Police found no evidence to dispute what Brown said.
McKay’s mother, Pauline Webby, told the inquest the family still had ‘‘many questions’’ about her death. ‘‘ We wanted to see Michael there [in the witness box] so we could ask him what happened on that night and why did we have to lose Libby.’’
Brown and McKay got together in September 2012.
For the most part, they seemed a couple ‘‘in love’’, friends said. Partygoers saw them kissing and cuddling the night she fell.
In statements read to the court, some of McKay’s friends and family were worried about the relationship.
Concetta Carenza said McKay told her Brown had tried to strangle her after Cup Day 2012. Brown stopped when their dog sat on one of them. ‘‘Michael had her on the ground and had his hands around her throat choking her,’’ Carenza said.
‘‘I don’t believe Libby would have jumped out of the car.
‘‘I believe Michael would be the kind of person to push her out. Michael had hurt her in the past.’’
Friend Shannon Blair said she saw the strangle bruises on McKay’s neck. Brown blamed his actions on someone spiking his drink, Blair said.
McKay’s step-father, Lewis Fisher, said McKay told him there was ‘‘occasional pushing and shoving’’ with Brown but the abuse ‘‘was mostly mental and verbal’’.
McKay’s former partner, Grant Connelly, said he learned from McKay that Brown put a child in a kennel two weeks before her death. She had told Brown to stop but he laughed, Connelly said.
Forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage said based on McKay’s injuries, Brown’s account was ‘‘unusual but possible’’.
Police interviewed Brown at 3.45am on June 9, two hours after McKay’s fall. He said McKay wanted to go back to the party as they drove home, but she was too drunk and they argued. When he drove over Shands Rd, while on Halswell Junction Rd, Brown said, ‘‘Libby, wake up we’re almost home’’.
‘‘She was lying down looking at me,’’ he told police. ‘‘Then she just opened the door and rolled out . . . I think she thought we were home.’’
Brown said he did a U-turn. When he got to her she was ‘‘out cold’’, in the foetal position with her face on an arm. There was no blood. ‘‘I picked her up and put her in the back seat.’’
As he drove home and looked back he saw ‘‘blood everywhere’’. ‘‘I panicked,’’ he said. He called 111 and got through just as he arrived in his driveway.
Brown said she was ‘‘gurgling blood . . . It was all blood.’’
‘‘The whole time I was yelling, ‘Libby Libby Libby’, and she would not answer.’’ She never regained consciousness.
Police found a gold coin on the road, possibly from the ute, where Brown said McKay fell, but no other evidence she was there, the inquest heard. A blood test showed McKay with 240mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, within the legal adult driving limit.
The coroner adjourned the inquest to allow Brown to return and ‘‘respond to questions himself’’.
‘‘Probably Michael Brown’s version is correct [but] there remain questions.’’
We wanted to see Michael there [in the witness box] so we could ask him what happened on that night and why did we have to lose Libby.
McKay’s mother, Pauline Webby