Hoods worn by a napier woman to protect her from the wind and rain on a mid-afternoon walk with a dog near her Napier South home may have contributed to the circumstances in which she died when hit by a train, a Coroner says.
Carole Lynn Boswell, mother of Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby player Trent Boswell-Wakefield, accidentally walked into the path of a train on the afternoon of September 1, 2014, and died from her injuries, Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall says in a finding released this week. Pet dog Flo was also injured and had to be put down.
The tragedy happened when they were hit by a southbound train just after the engine had passed through the Ellison St crossing, off the southern end of Napier's Marine Parade, near where Ms Boswell lived in Te Awa Ave.
Judge Marshall said there was no evidence Ms Boswell, who was regarded by family and friends as healthy and happy, would have deliberately placed herself in its path.
A workmate recalled in statements prepared by police for the inquiry it was a "drizzly, miserable day" on which Ms Boswell had finished work soon after midday suffering a head cold and saying she felt unwell.