Teiron Jones has shared his passion for music with a short song written about his love for the Taranki region.
A recreational boatie who drowned off the Taranaki coastline this morning is a Waitara man who married just two months ago.
Waitara locals say Teiron Jones, aged in his early 60s, left his Hume St home about 11am yesterday with his 31-year-old Filipino wife Janeth Intuna to spend the afternoon fishing.
Tragedy apparently struck soon after with the boat foundering and sinking near the Waitara Bar.
Neighbours feared it was Jones who had drowned and believed his wife, who had been in the country just weeks, survived, plucked from the water by coastguard around 6am today.
Police confirmed it was Jones who drowned. His death had been referred to the coroner.
Teiron Jones and his bride Janeth Intuna on their wedding day in September. Photo / Facebook
She is in a stable condition in Taranaki Base Hospital.
Jones has been at the centre of a boating tragedy previously. His dinghy capsized crossing the Waitara Bar in 2015, and a man subsequently died.
Jones in August was convicted of manslaughter and criticised by a judge for flouting basic boating safety. Neither men were wearing lifejackets when the craft flipped.
The following month, Jones married Intuna in Manila. Photos on his Facebook page show the beaming pair before and after the ceremony, surrounded by family and friends.
Neighbours of Jones and his new bride today said the couple left their property with the boat in tow before lunch yesterday.
Neither the couple nor the boat and car had returned by lunchtime today.
A next-door neighbour, who did not want to be named, said Jones had shifted into the street about two years ago, soon after the earlier water tragedy that claimed the life of Erka Xu.
The ill-fated boat that flipped on the Waitara Bar remained permanently propped up against his fence.
While the Welsh-born Jones had largely kept to himself since shifting into the neighbourhood, he was a keen musician and hosted gatherings of about a dozen singers at his home on Sunday nights.
The neighbour said beautiful music could be heard coming from his home as the choristers rehearsed. A Facebook post shows the group - Waitara Sound Good Singers - had already started singing carols in the community with Jones leading the group on keyboard.
The neighbour said Jones had also started a new chapter in his life, celebrating his wedding.
