Father of six meets tragic end
Mechanic Steven Ian Cameron was never far from his tools.
If he was not getting his hands dirty tinkering with an old motorbike, he could be found with his head under the bonnet of a car helping friends with their ‘‘doerupper’’ or a new set of wheels.
The jobs no-one else could do were delegated to him and with decades of experience under his belt, and AC/DC blasting in the background, there was nothing the father-of-six failed to fix.
Cameron, 50, had been living in the garage of a property on Mackenzie Ave, Woolston, when it went up in flames.
Trapped inside, he was caught in the fire and flown to Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital with critical burns. The Timaru-born man died on April 26.
With little more than a charred photo album and their memories left, his eldest children recall a kindred spirit with ‘‘a heart of gold’’ and childhood filled with adventure, mostly on two wheels.
All Cameron’s possessions, including dozens of motorbike trophies and everything he had inherited from his father were lost in the blaze.
To say it had been a devastating couple of months for the Cameron family would be an understatement. Ewan Cameron died in late March and two weeks later his son, the pillar of the family and the children’s best friend, was burnt in the fire on April 11.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Worner said there was ‘‘nothing to support’’ suggestions that the fire started in a suspect clan lab.
The fire was deemed not suspicious and the death had been referred to the coroner.
Cameron had a checkered past, including a charge of dangerous driving causing injury when he was found at a crash scene with methamphetamine gear in his vehicle, but he was a diamond in the rough with a ‘‘huge sense of humour’’, his daughter Yasmin Cameron, 23, said.
He could put a smile on anyone’s face and loved his children, she said.
‘‘If he could have, he would have had more.’’
Bikes, cars and family were his life, she said.
‘‘He was my best friend, I was with him just about every day.
‘‘He was such a positive person, no matter what he always had you smiling.’’
He had even given his last pair of shoes to a girl ‘‘just because she needed them more’’. ‘‘It didn’t matter to him.’’ The need for speed ran in the family and his son, Kane Cameron, 25, continued his legacy with a collection of motorbikes at his property. He was counting down the months until his own son, Cruiz, turned four and could enter competitions.