Mother tells of Browns Bay drowning tragedy

By BRIDGET CARTER

It was a hair appointment that was meant to take only 20 minutes.

And if the appointment time had not been changed at the last minute, Vivienne Robinson would have been there to watch her children when they went for a swim at Browns Bay beach.

But because she would be gone for such a short time, she thought she could safely leave her three children at the beach for a swim on a hot day in January.

Sadly, she returned to a beach crowded with emergency service workers and a scene of chaos.

She discovered her elder daughter was dying, her son had drowned and his twin sister had been rescued in a tragedy on January 16 which claimed three lives.

The events at the beach that day were revealed in detail yesterday in the North Shore Coroner's Court at the inquests for the three people who died.

They were Joshua Robinson, 7, his sister Christle Robinson, 16, and 59-year-old Rosemary Hosie of Kumeu, who died after holding 7-year-old Tabitha Robinson's head above water until help arrived.

Coroner Murray Jamieson said Mrs Hosie's rescue efforts were superhuman and deserved "the nation's highest praise".

He said Christle was confronted with "a life-saving burden, too great for anyone, let alone a 16-year-old".

And Joshua Robinson was not to be blamed for what occurred, but his inexperience in the water, the fact that he lost his boogie board, and the offshore wind and ebbing tide put him in considerable difficulty for a 7-year-old.

Dr Jamieson found all three died as a result of or complications from drowning.

The court heard how the family left their home in Coatesville in Mrs Robinson's car with Christle, the twins and their boogie boards packed inside.

Christle was a strong swimmer. She was also like a mother to the twins and had minded them on numerous occasions before.

The children's 18-year-old brother stayed home to mind the dogs.

Mrs Robinson said the water was "like glass".

The court heard that the weather was fine, but there was an offshore wind, and the tide had been going out for more than an hour.

At 3.50pm, the Robinson twins went into the water on the boogie boards they got for Christmas. Christle was with them.

The twins did not attach the boards' cords to themselves.

Both twins had learned to swim through lessons in the Coatesville swimming pool, but Joshua had always been cautious about going into the water. Most of the time, he would not go in higher than his waist.

Joshua got into trouble first. He became 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 decided to abandon the boards and return to 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 and people performed CPR on her at the beach.

Mrs Hosie, who liked to swim at Browns Bay, swam across and people saw her holding Tabitha's head above water.

Joern Bostelmann, who was at the beach with his girlfriend, swam from shore and helped Maria Hirst to get Joshua on a board and taken back to shore before bringing Tabitha to safety. Joshua was not breathing and had froth coming from his mouth.

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

People on the beach gave CPR to the trio and emergency services took over when they arrived.

Witnesses said the members of the public who were helping looked exhausted.

Mrs Robinson arrived amid the chaos. She had leaped from her chair in the Rothesay Bay salon while having her hair coloured because she heard that something was happening at Browns Bay beach and that her children could be involved.

"I realised I had to get to the beach and get to the kids."

She said she kept constantly and aggressively asking police officers and emergency service workers what was happening because she was frightened.

She heard conflicting reports about what had happened to Christle.

Then she saw Tabitha wrapped in a towel and realised she was all right.

She realised Joshua must have drowned because when she saw him on the beach, no one was doing CPR on him.

Christle Robinson and Mrs Hosie were taken to North Shore Hospital in critical condition and died days later.

Inquest officer Constable Rose Wilson said only one other person had drowned at Browns Bay since 1980.

That was an elderly man, who drowned in 2002 when he went out to rescue children.

Dr Jamieson asked Ms Wilson whether, as a long-time North Shore resident, a police officer and a mother of four children, she considered Browns Bay to be a safe beach.

"Absolutely," she replied.