17 Nov 2017

Death of intellectually disabled man was preventable - coroner

3:20 pm on 17 November 2017

A coroner has found that the death of an intellectually disabled man who slipped and fell 40-metres down a bank was preventable.

Darryl Richard Kitto, 47, fell from a cliff overlooking the Rakaia Gorge on April 17 last year.

Rakaia Gorge

Rakaia Gorge Photo: 123rf.com

He had stopped with his two carers at a carpark off State Highway 77 to take his photo, after they had all been on an outing.

He planned to give the photo to his sister.

Coroner Sue Johnson said the carers were not to know Mr Kitto was standing in a dangerous place, as there were no signs warning of a steep drop, and no fence to stop a fall.

She said had there been, Mr Kitto might not have died.

The carpark is not a formal rest stop and look-out area but the New Zealand Transport Agency told the inquest it would be recognised as one, once a steel fence had been built around it in the next few months.

Mr Kitto was due to have an interview for a job the day after his death. The job application required him to provide an address but he could not remember what it was.

His carers had taken him out to locate the last house he had lived in. They had stopped at the carpark for a break on the way back.