Volcano owners' conviction over deadly eruption thrown out
The owners of a New Zealand volcano that erupted in 2019, killing 22 people, have had their conviction over the disaster thrown out by the country's High Court.
Whakaari Management Limited (WML) was found guilty in 2023 of failing to keep visitors safe and fined just over NZ$1m ($560,000; £445,000). They were also ordered to pay NZ$4.8m in reparation to the victims.
However, following an appeal, the High Court ruled on Friday that the company only owned the land and were not responsible for people's safety.
White Island, which is also known by its Māori name, Whakaari, is New Zealand's most active volcano and has been erupting in some form since 2011.
It had been showing signs of heightened unrest for weeks before the fatal December 2019 eruption, which killed almost half of the people who were on it at the time. Most were tourists, including 17 from Australia and three from the US.
Another 25 people were injured, with many suffering extensive burns.
High Court Justice Simon Moore said on Friday that while WML licensed tours of the volcano, there was nothing in these agreements that gave the company control of what was happening on the island day to day.
He agreed that it was reasonable for the company to rely on tour operators, as well as emergency management and science organisations, to assess risks to safety.
Justice Moore added that, in coming to his decision, he had not ignored the pain and grief of the families that had been affected.
"It is impossible not to be deeply moved and affected by the sheer scale and nature of the human loss in this case," he said.
Thirteen parties in total, including tour operators, were charged over the disaster. WML was the last to receive a verdict after six had pleaded guilty, while six more had their charges dismissed.
The case against WML was the largest action of its kind brought by New Zealand's regulator, Worksafe NZ, who said it acknowledged the High Court ruling and was considering whether to appeal.
James Cairney, a lawyer for James, Andrew and Peter Buttle - three brothers who own the company - said the family welcomed the decision, Radio New Zealand reported. He added that the Buttles hoped it would "bring certainty for all landowners who grant others recreational access to their land".
The Buttle family has owned Whakaari/White Island since the 1930s, when their grandfather bought it and placed it in a family trust. It is one of only a few privately owned islands in New Zealand.
The brothers had previously been on trial in relation to the 2019 disaster as individuals over alleged breaches of New Zealand's workplace health and safety legislation. Those charges were dismissed in 2023.
Millions awarded to White Island volcano victims
Company found guilty over NZ volcano disaster
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
30 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Men who stole $6 million golden toilet from English mansion sentenced to prison terms
LONDON — Two men who stole a $6.4 million golden toilet from an English mansion were sentenced Friday to more than two years in prison. The 18-carat fully functioning toilet was on display as a piece of contemporary art at Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born — when five burglars smashed a window and yanked it from its plumbing in a brazen early morning raid in September 2019. It was never recovered and was believed to have been chopped up and sold.
Hamilton Spectator
6 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
'Scam': Métis minister slams court's leniency to fraudster making dubious Indigenous claim
A Métis cabinet minister has criticized the sentencing of a convicted fraudster after she received time off her sentence by claiming Métis heritage, despite there being 'no Indigenous identifiers for any known ancestors'. 'We're the ones who get to decide who's us,' said Will Goodon, the minister of housing and property management for the Manitoba Métis Federation. '(Being Indigenous is) not about just standing up in the middle of a crowd and saying 'I'm Métis.'' His comments come after Ashley Gallie was sentenced to a combined six years in two separate cases — including 18 months for trafficking and gun crimes, plus four years and six months for fraud and possession for the purpose of trafficking. Gallie, 40, originally of Oshawa, was nabbed by Toronto police on Oct. 15, 2022 after they conducted a search warrant in a motel room. During the search, investigators allegedly discovered Gallie with drugs, including crack and fentanyl, along with a gun, ammunition and more than $10,000 in cash. In the other case, she was accused of stealing thousands worth of OxyContin pills from two Toronto pharmacies, totalling a street value of up to $194,000, court documents state. In the aftermath of her multiple arrests, the mother of three lost the custody of her child who is under three years old. During her first trial, in regards to fraud and theft from the pharmacies, Gallie said she was of Indigenous descent, claiming Mi'kmaq heritage. She told the author of her pre-sentence report she had her Métis status card, of The Painted Feather of the Woodland Tribe. However, the court indicated the tribe was a 'for-profit organization' in Bancroft and not recognized by the Manitoba Métis Foundation, the Métis Nation of Ontario or the Government of Canada. 'The letter indicates that payment of a fee is required to be a member of that organization,' court documents read. 'There is no requirement of supporting documents to demonstrate any Indigenous ancestry of any family members. The cards are available to anyone who requests one.' A letter from Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) explained they were unable to produce a Gladue report — a presentencing document intended to shed light on an offender's background and unique circumstances — as there 'were no Indigenous identifiers for any of the known ancestors in Gallie's family tree.' 'While there is no proof that Gallie is not Indigenous, there is no information before the court … to assist the court in how it could use her … background as a factor … on sentencing,' Justice Beverly Brown told the court in her reasons. However, in her second case, involving the alleged drug dealing and possession of a firearm and ammunition, the lack of a Gladue report did not stop Justice Brock Jones from deeming Gallie's background as a mitigating factor. 'Gallie considers herself Métis … While the letter from (ALS) indicates that the author is unable to complete a formal Gladue report, it does not question Gallie's Indigenous heritage,' the court heard. He went on to reiterate Gallie's claims that her grandfather informed her of her heritage before he passed away, not wanting to share it earlier due to his fear that his true identity would be discovered. 'That Gallie's connection to her culture was severed in the past is tragic, but sadly it is not uncommon,' he told the court. 'Her recent efforts to reconnect with that culture are meaningful and admirable.' Later in the mitigating factor section, Jones said Gallie's difficult life and 'Indigenous heritage' diminished her moral culpability to some extent. Goodon went on to say that he felt many in this day and age are trying to 'scam the system', including musicians like Buffy St. Marie and former Manitoba environment minister Kevin Klein , who was also a member of The Painted Feather of the Woodland Tribe. 'The suffering that's happened from our grandparents and their parents through the years of colonialism from actual Indigenous people gets diluted when there's folks … who try to use things like Gladue in order to give themselves a leg up,' he added. 'If you want to know who is Métis, why don't you ask the legitimate Métis governments that are out there? That's where we should be trying to end up — if you want to know who's us, ask us.' Gallie also faces a 10-year weapons prohibition and a DNA sample. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CNN
7 hours ago
- CNN
Closing arguments to be held Friday in Karen Read's retrial for the death of John O'Keefe
After nearly eight weeks of testimony, Massachusetts prosecutors and defense attorneys for Karen Read are expected to give jurors their closing arguments on Friday as her retrial for the death of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, nears its end. Prosecutors have accused Read of hitting O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, with her SUV in January 2022 during a night out drinking with friends, alleging she struck O'Keefe while driving in reverse and left him to die outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts. Read – whose first trial ended with a hung jury – insists on her innocence, and has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death. Read, 45, has claimed to be the target of a cover-up, alleging off-duty law enforcement inside that home were responsible for O'Keefe's death and that they conspired to frame her. But her defense at trial has been more broadly focused on undermining the police investigation and offering jurors alternative theories for what, other than Read's SUV, might have killed O'Keefe. In fact, defense attorneys Thursday indicated they will not argue a so-called 'third-party culprit' defense. Rather, the judge will allow them to argue the crime scene was not secure, to raise questions about the chain of custody of the evidence and bias in the investigation. The closing arguments Friday mark the apex of not one, but two trials that have divided these suburbs south of Boston for the better part of three years, spawning a vocal contingent of court watchers who fiercely advocate for the defendant, echo her allegations of police corruption and chant, 'Free Karen Read.' Each side will get one hour and 15 minutes on Friday to sum up their cases. Prosecutors will try to synthesize the many threads they explored into one compelling story, while the defense will work to seed enough 'reasonable doubt' in jurors' minds to convince them the Commonwealth failed to meet its burden of proof. Both will be hoping their version resonates and leads jurors to render a verdict in their side's favor – something each side was denied at the conclusion of the first trial last July, when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, forcing Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone to declare a mistrial. Read did not testify in either trial, though she appeared to consider the idea throughout the retrial. Prosecutors presented clips taken from interviews Read gave the media, trying to use her words against her to highlight inconsistencies in her account and bolster their theory. The case centers on a window of time that started late on January 28, 2022, and stretched into the early morning hours of the following day. That evening, Read and O'Keefe went out with friends to two bars in Canton, as the region braced for a historic snowstorm. The party eventually moved to a home at 34 Fairview Road, and while Read has said she dropped O'Keefe off, witnesses who testified for the prosecution said he never came inside. It is the prosecution's theory that O'Keefe exited the vehicle, and that Read put her SUV in reverse and pressed on the gas at about 75%. According to testimony presented at trial, prosecutors allege Read hit O'Keefe at a speed of about 24 mph, shattering her SUV's taillight, sending the victim to the ground and causing him blunt force trauma injuries to his head that incapacitated him, leading to his death. When Read returned to the scene the next morning with two other women, they found O'Keefe lying in the snow near a flagpole in the yard of the home. In the prosecution's telling, when a paramedic who responded to treat O'Keefe asked what happened, Read responded, 'I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.' 'And it was at that time, through the words of the defendant, that she admitted what she had done that night,' special prosecutor Hank Brennan said in his opening statement. 'That she hit John O'Keefe.' Read's attorneys rejected this theory, arguing no collision occurred: Their experts testified some of O'Keefe's injuries – specifically cuts and scratches on his arm – were caused by a dog, and that the damage to Read's taillight was inconsistent with it striking a person. The defense worked to undermine confidence in the investigation, highlighting sexist and offensive text messages the lead investigator, Michael Proctor, sent about the defendant. Proctor was never called to testify, but those messages ultimately led to his dishonorable discharge from the Massachusetts State Police. In his opening statement, defense attorney Alan Jackson said there was 'mounting and overwhelming evidence that there was no collision and John O'Keefe's body was moved onto that lawn.' Scientific evidence, he added, 'will establish that Karen Read's SUV was not damaged by hitting a pedestrian and conversely, John O'Keefe's injuries did not come from being struck.' 'Folks, the science will not lie, and the physics cannot lie,' Jackson said. 'And that science will tell you with certainty there was no collision with John O'Keefe. You'll add that to that rising mountain of reasonable doubt.'
