Family angered by claims crash driver was drinking

Tearful members of Peter Moke's family have denied widely-publicised claims he drank alcohol before the car crash that took both his life and the life of a passenger, but also led to the remarkable survival story of Lower Hutt woman Ada Makiri.

Mrs Makiri, 46, survived for four days trapped upside-down with the bodies of Mr Moke and Tui Timmins after their vehicle crashed off the Napier-Taupo road on October 2.

Mrs Makiri was rescued by truck driver Ross Hedley who heard her faint cries for help after his vehicle broke down nearby

At an inquest before Napier coroner Warwick Holmes, Mr Moke's family said remarks published in a women's magazine were "not what we know of Peter", and Mr Moke's uncle said his nephew would never drink and drive.

"If he was driving, he wouldn't ever touch alcohol. I don't know where this lady got this from," he said.

Autopsies, which would normally include tests for alcohol, were not carried out on the bodies of Mr Moke and Miss Timmins because of their decomposed state.

Constable Bryan Farquharson of Napier told the inquest that Mrs Makiri said she had met Mr Moke and Miss Timmins at a bar in Wellington and that they drank together before leaving in Miss Timmins' vehicle.

The trio went to Featherston and picked up some alcohol before continuing north.

Mrs Makiri slept for much of the trip, at one point waking while they were at a petrol station. At some stage Mr Moke took over from Miss Timmins as the driver of the vehicle.

Mrs Makiri told police that Mr Moke's driving was erratic and fast. She believed the accident may have happened after Mr Moke fell asleep and added that she thought he had been drinking.

Mr Moke's driving and speed became worse the further the group travelled, and he became agitated whenever he was asked to slow down, Mrs Makiri told police.

She could not recall anything about the accident.

Mr Farquharson said that when the crash occurred the vehicle vaulted through the air and smashed off branches of a nearby tree before landing upside-down in a blackberry patch.

In finding that both Mr Moke and Miss Timmins died from injuries received in the crash, Mr Holmes said the deaths stemmed from a night of fun with tragic consequences.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY