A man has been charged with reckless driving causing the death of his fiancee after he allegedly tried to cross a flooded Otago river in a 4WD that got swept away by the raging water.
Sarah Jane Shirley, 29, died after the 4WD vehicle she was a passenger in was swept away on the north Taieri River at Silver Stream on July 12.
Police allege her fiance Garry Stephen Harvey, 34, was driving.
He appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
Harvey was remanded on bail to reappear on October 7.
On the day of the tragedy emergency services were alerted just after 9pm and Shirley's body was recovered from the vehicle the next morning.
Two other people in the vehicle at the time managed to get out.
One of the escapees, desperate for help, waded through swollen creeks and turned up on a North Taieri doorstep, shaken and soaked.
Homeowners Dave and Barbara Warren told the Otago Daily Times that they brought him inside, called emergency services and warmed him up with dry clothes, a cup of tea and a blanket.
The man was in shock and it took a while to understand what had happened.
He told the couple that he thought he would die in the back seat, before managing to climb out a window in the front of the vehicle.
The other survivor was left beside the ford in shock and screaming while the first man went for help.
A death notice in the Otago Daily Times remembered Shirley as a "crazy, unique, loving, quirky, cherished and beautiful" woman.
It said she was a "deeply loved and adored soulmate and fiancée" of Harvey and loved step-mum to their two daughters.
She was also described as a "dearly loved and treasured daughter", loved sister and granddaughter, special aunty and "very much loved niece, cousin and friend".
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