"I lifted my head and saw a boat," he said. "It was a drone noise, it was probably the engine, but I didn'thear it until it was so late." The boat began approaching Hayden and he kicked out of the way. Itmissed him by less than a metre, he said. "I wasn't sure where Becky was but she had been on my right handside and as the boat passed I heard the bang." When the boat stopped, Hayden saw blood on top of the water beforehis wife came to the surface face down. "I grabbed her and lifted her head out of the water and I startedscreaming for help. I noticed that she was bleeding from the head -the snorkel and mask were gone," he said. Hayden tried to swim back to shore with his wife while constantlyscreaming for help, but the driver of the boat "eventually jumpedin the water" and swum her to shore, he said. A doctor was flown into the resort and found that Rebecca wasfatally injured. While removing a towel, covering her head wounds,he saw the brain was dislodged. Rebecca was immediately lifted to Nadi Airport and transferred toLatoka Hospital. She died 45 minutes later. An autopsy was conducted by Litia Tudravu, who had been employed bythe Fiji Ministry of Health. She concluded the death was "severebrain trauma," and advised that it was not possible to replace thebrain into the skull cavity. Tudravu set the brain aside for disposal which took place within 24hours, and notified New Zealand police that embalming procedureswere completed for bodies being transported overseas. With a full autopsy, the brain and organs were eviscerated anddisposed of within the hospital. Tudravu later told police that she was "embarrassed" by notreturning Rebecca's brain. As a result of her case, processes hadbeen changed to ensure better consultation with families in regardto autopsies and embalming procedures. When the body arrived in New Zealand, a post mortem examination wasalso conducted by a second pathologist, who concluded her cause ofthe death was "multiple parallel chopping wounds to head andshoulder indicative of boat propeller strike". Devonport found Tomasi Natuluvuli Tuvou, the operator of thealuminium boat that hit Rebecca, did not keep a look out forswimmers when he deviated from a designated boat channel, and didnot have a licence to operate a motor vessel. "Mr Tuvou did not employ safe boating practices. He travelledoutside the designated channel. He travelled at speed. He did notkeep a lookout. He did not have a second person on board acting asa spotter," he said. "Failure to employ safe boating practices resulted in Mrs Stockwellbeing run over by the boat and hit on the head by the boat'spropeller." Tuvou was sentenced to one year imprisonment suspended for twoyears following conviction for manslaughter by an unlawful omissionresulting in death in March 2009. Devonport said he has no jurisdiction to make recommendations orcomments to a company in Fiji. However, he has been advised that aninvestigation had been carried out by the Fijian Labour Ministry'sNational Occupational Health and Safety Services and changes hadbeen made by the resort. Email this article Print this article Text size + - more... Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Latest NZ News Video Kiwi school celebrates Samoa independence (1:29) NZ sevens and Maori teams to be All Blacks (1:43) Large secondary schools to get more funding (2:48). We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Portable Solar Charger , China Multiple Alarm Timer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Digital Alcohol Tester.
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