KEY POINTS:
Paul Mahoney doubts he will ever know all the facts surrounding his son's death. For now, all he cares about is saying his final goodbyes now that the body of 24-year-old Aaron has been flown back from Dubai to be laid to rest in his hometown of Christchurch.
The young golfer was only two days into a 10-day course at a Dubai golfing academy to help develop his career when he died, reportedly after the police car he was in crashed and overturned on January 10.
Early media reports said he had been picked up drunk and misbehaving, then had attacked the driver of the police car, causing the crash.
However, his family refuse to accept that version of events.
A more recent newspaper report quoted a police source saying the two officers involved had been charged with manslaughter.
But neither Paul Mahoney nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade gives that report any credence either.
"I know charges have never been laid," Mr Mahoney said. "I don't think they have even looked at the [police] file yet.
"Our goal was just to get Aaron home. We can't reverse anything that has been done now. There is no witch-hunt at the moment."
A service celebrating Aaron's life will be held today. A large contingent of golfers he played and trained with, including some from Melbourne, will attend the funeral.
"Aaron lived a positive life," his father said. "He touched such a lot of people, like any sportsman does, I suppose. We want to give him a great send-off."
Mr Mahoney said he would like to know how and why his son died "but I have a feeling we will probably never find out".
"Things work so slowly over there [in Dubai]. It just depends on whether we want to go down that track.
"I don't want to spend the next 10 years on a witch-hunt because it's not going to bring Aaron back."
