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The husband of an Auckland woman has told of coming home to find his wife dead and ambulance officers in his house, after a Mercury Energy contractor cut off his family's electricity supply.
Lopaavea Muliaga has broken down in tears and at times had to stop reading his evidence as he recalled the death of his wife Folole in the Coroner's Court today.
Mrs Muliaga, 44, died last May after the electricity to her Mangere Bridge home was cut by a Mercury Energy contractor because of an overdue power bill of $168.40.
Mr Muliaga told the coroner how he had left Mrs Muliaga with oxygen tubes in her nose on the day that she died.
When he returned home from his kitchenhand job, his wife was dead and two ambulance officers were in the house.
Mr Muliaga went on to say that the night of Mrs Muliaga's death, he and his four children sat in their small Mangere rented house in the darkness.
"After the power was disconnected, I sat in the dark with my children because Mercury Energy refused to reconnect the power until approximately 8am the next morning, despite pleas from my family," Mr Muliaga said.
He said when the Vircom contractor - known as Mr A for legal reasons - came to the house to cut the power, Mrs Muliaga would have had tubes in her nose connected to the oxygen machine.
"Folole died only three hours after the power was cut off, on the same day that the contractor from Vircom disconnected the power to our rented house," he said.
He said Mr A had only been in the country for six months and had not been given good training. He said Mr A was also told by Vircom that it was not necessary for Mr A to talk to people before turning the power off.
"As a grieving husband, I find it hard to believe that Mercury Energy, a state owned company, had given no formal guidelines to Vircom about how their employees should deal with Mercury Energy's customers," Mr Muliaga said.
Earlier, a lawyer for the Muliaga's children told the Coroner's Court they didn't know how sick she was prior to her death.
Lawyer Moira Macnab said the children were unaware Mrs Muliaga was dying and hoped Coroner Gordon Matenga would make some recommendations in relation to her care.
Mr Muliaga told the Coroner how the family of six survived on his wages of $370 a week as a kitchenhand while Mrs Muliaga studied to become a registered teacher in New Zealand.
He said the family ate rice and vegetable soup and could not afford "fancy food" or takeaways and discussed his wife's weight.
"Folole was self-conscious of her body-weight," he said. "She could not understand why she put on the weight when she ate less than me,"
Mr Muliaga also said his wife had no problems with blood pressure and did not have diabetes.
The detective who investigated Mrs Muliaga's death, Wati Chaplow earlier explained to the hearing how her oxygen machine worked.
During questioning by lawyer Olinda Woodroffe - representing Mr Muliaga - Detective Chaplow turned the oxygen machine off, which sounded a loud alarm.
Mr Chaplow said when mains power was turned off, the machine would not work but the battery-activated alarm sounded.
"My understanding, is it is a continuous beeping until either the battery fades or is switched off," Mr Chaplow said.
Ms Woodroffe began asking if the contractor who turned the power off could have heard the noise, but she was interrupted by the disconnection company - Vircom.
Coroner Gordon Matenga told Ms Woodroffe she could not ask that kind of question.
Today's hearing began with a Samoan prayer asking for closure for the Muliaga family.
Opening statements were made by lawyers representing the family, Mighty River Power and Counties Manukau District Health Board.
Over 20 witnesses will be called to give evidence at the hearing.
The Muliaga children's lawyer said they hoped further changes be made to ensure similar deaths would not occur again.
Mighty River Power lawyer Adam Ross also expressed condolences to the family and told the Coroner that the company hoped the family will get some answers as to how Mrs Muliaga died.
