Heroic sacrifice to be honoured

Rosemary Hosie

A woman who died in a drowning tragedy that also claimed the lives of a child and teenager at Browns Bay on the North Shore will be honoured in a ceremony tomorrow.

The Royal Humane Society of New Zealand will present a posthumous silver medal to Rosemary Hope Hosie, who was 59 when she went to the rescue of 7-year-old twins Tabitha and Joshua Robinson and their sister Christle, 16, on January 16 last year.

Joshua died at the beach and Christle and Mrs Hosie died in hospital days later.

In a citation for the award, the society said Mrs Hosie was a competent but not a powerful swimmer who saw the children in trouble and went to help.

She saw Christle holding her young sister in the water. Mrs Hosie swam over and took control of Tabitha and started to take her to safety.

Other people on the beach went to assist.

A coroner's inquest said Joshua had become distressed when the tide started carrying him out to sea on his board. His sisters followed him, trying to catch up.

At some stage the children abandoned the boards and headed for the shore. Christle brought Joshua some of the way back, but they got into difficulty.

Christle was struggling with the twins. She was seen holding Tabitha's head above water and she called for help.

When people on the beach saw that the boogie boards had drifted away from the children, several swam out to help.

Gerhard Griessel brought Christle to shore, where people performed CPR on her.

Mrs Hosie swam across and people saw her holding Tabitha's head above water.

Joern Bostelmann swam from shore and helped Maria Hirst to get Joshua on a board and taken back to shore, before bringing Tabitha to safety.

When Mr Bostelmann went back for Mrs Hosie, she was face-down in the water.

The society said Mrs Hosie did not hesitate to act when she saw a child in peril.

"Without her act of heroism the outcome could have been even more tragic. Her sacrifice is deserving of the highest praise."

Vivienne Robinson, the mother of the children, said the family were sorry Mrs Hosie had died and were "glad she is being remembered in such a favourable way".

A silver medal will also be presented to Craig Goddard, who rescued an unconscious truck-driver from his wreck at Benneydale last July.

The vehicle began exploding just after Mr Goddard dragged the man from the cab.