Man denies Coca-Cola staff death threat

A man who claims his partner was poisoned by Coca-Cola denies he made death threats against company staff in Invercargill, but says the product should be pulled from shelves.

Last week, Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand managing director George Adams said death threats had been made against Invercargill Coca-Cola staff, prompting the company to hire a security team to protect them.

Chris Hodgkinson's partner died last year and he claimed she was poisoned by Coke - something Mr Adams said was "patently untrue".

Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar's report into the woman's death said her death had been caused by a heart aneurysm, Mr Hodgkinson said.

Mr Hodgkinson said he believed that was as a result of drinking too much Coca-Cola - about 4 litres each day.

He said he wanted Coca-Cola to either remove its product from shelves, or at least warn people of the dangers it could do.

"They're going to have to do something about the fact that they're obviously selling a product that's killing people."

He had called Coca-Cola and got "anti" at them several times, but had never made threats, he said.

- NZPA