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Decision not to prosecute recreation fatality

Marie made this Official Information request to Maritime New Zealand

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From: Marie

Dear Maritime New Zealand,

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) chose not to prosecute a recreational jetski driver (November 2021, Waitara River) after the person on the ski biscuit died as a result of speeding and hitting a structure. This incident was two weeks prior to an incident on lake Wakatipu that resulted in a person spilling hot oil on their foot when the boat grounded, that injury just required cleaning and redressing. The skipper who was not driving at the time of the grounding was prosecuted by Maritime NZ after the victim went to his MNZ maritime officers friends house on the weekend to lay a complaint about the incident. That officer then led the investigation and recommended the prosecution of his mates enemy.

1. Please provide all communications, documents etc that resulted in the Waitara driver not being prosecuted for this fatal accident.

2. Please provide all communications and documents used to ensure consistency in prosecution decisions within MNZ. ie; not prosecuting a fatal incident yet prosecuting a minor injury incident where the victim was mates with the Maritime NZ officer who led the investigation and recommended the prosecutions.

3. In the last 10 years how many fatal recreational incidents have occurred where the driver of the vessel survived? How many of those drivers involved in a fatal recreational incident were prosecuted in the 10 years.

4. How many formal investigations have been launched for recreational incidents under the jurisdiction of the Invercargill Maritime office in the last 10 years.

5. How many people have been prosecuted as a result of recreational incident investigations undertaken by the MNZ Invercargill office in the last 10 years. How many of those prosecutions were of people involved in fatal incidents.

Yours faithfully,

Marie

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From: Ministerial Services
Maritime New Zealand

Môrena Marie,
 
Thank you for your information request sent to Maritime NZ on 15 September
as below.
 
We will respond to your request in accordance with the Official
Information Act 1982 (OIA). We will notify you of the decision on your
request as soon as reasonably practicable and, in any case, no later than
13 October 2025, being 20 working days after the day your request was
received. If we are not able to respond to your request by 13 October, we
will notify you of an extension to that timeframe.
 
If you have any queries regarding your request, please don’t hesitate to
contact us.
 
Ngâ mihi
 
Megan
 

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