Dad killed scaling power pylon

Kheirrson Pukeroa. Photo / Supplied

The father of a 2-year-old girl was electrocuted after climbing a power pylon.

Kheirrson Pukeroa fell the height of three storeys after touching an 11,000 volt line in Pokeno, south of Auckland, on March 13.

It is understood a tool for cutting copper was found at the base of the 20m pylon.

But Pukeroa's partner, Tracey Hopa, said the 21-year-old had been having a race to the top with her cousin Ivan Smith.

"Kheirrson was afraid of heights. I had told him Ivan was scared of heights so they were egging each other on to see who was brave enough to get to the top."

Hopa said Pukeroa was too adventurous.

"If anyone asked him to do something he would just do it without thinking. He was really curious and competitive. Who does that? Touch a live wire? It's really silly."

Hopa, 29, from Papatoetoe, said she, Pukeroa and Smith had been looking for a swimming hole during an afternoon trip to Pokeno.

"We crossed train tracks and found a cabin, a grassy area and a stream. We sat there and were planning for a picnic."

Hopa drove 5km back to Mercer because she did not want to use the long drop. When she returned she found Pukeroa lying beneath the pylon.

"Ivan told me they had climbed it and Kheirrson touched the wire or grabbed it with his hand. He saw sparks and Kheirrson fell."

Hopa said her partner was in a lot of pain. "He wanted water. He kept repeating himself, he said he was going to die. I grabbed him and said, 'You're not, you're not allowed to.' He said, 'I love you."'

St John ambulance staff took Pukeroa to Middlemore Hospital. A spokeswoman said he had been electrocuted.

Hopa sat in the front of the ambulance and heard her partner calling to her. He was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the hospital.

Pukeroa's cousins Leeann Wilson and Mikalow Wilson said he was like a brother to them. "We were told he could not have survived his injuries, the drop was at least three storeys," said Leeann.

"He landed on his side and had internal bleeding. He went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. They tried but couldn't revive him."

Pukeroa's death has been referred to the coroner.

Counties Power network general manager Derek Todd said he had prepared a report for a coroner's inquiry.

"We have suffered because of copper theft in that area. There was a theft case at that site just three days prior," said Todd.

"Someone had stolen copper, to the value of between $3000 and $4000, from a wooden power pole."

But Hopa said Pukeroa wasn't doing that.

"We only had my small car with us, we didn't take anything with us, no tools," she said.

"I don't know how we would have fitted it in my car."

Leeann said she had not heard that Pukeroa might have been trying to steal copper.

"I asked Ivan and he said, no, it was a dare."