KEY POINTS:
A man who choked to death on a piece of steak in a pub's toilets was found two days later by cleaners.
A coroner's inquest into the death of the 58-year-old, Joseph Erepeta, from Kawakawa in Northland, was told he had been on a "work do" at the Bank Bar on Kaikohe's main street on March 1 this year.
His wife Bertha said they had had a meal of steak, eggs, chips and salad about 7.30pm.
Two hours later, after drinking and playing the pokie machines, Mrs Erepeta decided to go for a smoke outside the bar.
It was the last time she saw her husband, whom she had known for 45 years, alive.
"When we parted he didn't say where he was going and I went to have a smoke," Mrs Erepeta said.
When she returned to the bar she couldn't find Mr Erepeta and no one seemed to know where he was. She went to another pub, but he wasn't there either.
Mrs Erepeta said she then went home, thinking her husband would make his own way home.
"We hadn't had a fight and I thought he would get home by himself." She waited all of Sunday for a phone call from her husband but it never came. She phoned 111 about 11pm and reported him missing.
About 10am the following morning Mr Erepeta's body was found in the toilet at the bar by a cleaner.
Bank Bar owner and manager John Maurice was able to force the door open far enough to see Mr Erepeta's body. An ambulance was called, but nothing could be done to resuscitate Mr Erepeta.
During the hearing, a family member asked whether the toilets had been thoroughly checked before the bar was shut.
Mr Maurice said the toilets were checked and normally cleaners worked every day. But on this particular weekend he had been away at a wedding and the manager had refused to work on Sunday, which forced him to keep the bar closed.
Once Mr Erepeta was discovered, police were called. Officers noticed there was vomit in the toilet bowl and false teeth on his stomach.
Coroner Brandt Shortland said at the hearing in Kaikohe on Tuesday a pathologist had completed a post mortem examination and discovered a "large piece of steak" had caused Mr Erepeta to choke.
Mr Shortland said a full report and recommendations would be released at a later date.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
