Society should consider adopting the idea of a 'sober companion' in the same way as appointing a sober driver," Coroner David Crerar said at the inquest in Queenstown yesterday into the death of a young Cromwell man, who drowned in Lake Te Anau on August 1, 2009, following alcohol-fuelled late-night antics.
The coroner concluded there were no suspicious circumstances to the death of Ricky Joseph Gregory (22), and said the cold water and the influence of alcohol were factors in his drowning.
Mr Gregory had been travelling with friends to Te Anau to celebrate the 23rd birthday of a friend. After an evening of drinking and playing pool, he had gone to the lake front with two friends, a man and a woman, and they had decided to take a dinghy to sail out to a moored sea plane to board the plane. The dinghy started taking in water, and the trio had to start swimming for the shore.
Despite help from his friend, Mr Gregory did not make it back to the shore. Emergency services were called about 3.30am, but Mr Gregory's body was not found until the next day, when a police dive squad located it at 4.40pm, 25m from the shore, in water about 10m deep.
At the time of the accident, the two surviving friends had been treated for shock, and when they gave evidence in court, they were still reacting to the death of their friend, and burst into tears.
Mr Gregory's mother Suzy Gregory told the coroner her son had always been a `risk-taker'.
While she said she did not blame the alcohol, she had a plea to young people:"If you are drinking alcohol and making decisions which can endanger others, please stop," she urged.
The coroner said he hoped other youths would learn from the tragic death.
He reserved his decision.
