KEY POINTS:
A 22-year-old woman who died after drinking methanol had her 4-year-old son at the party where she drank the poison.
Daneka Joy Skonhet Altmann, from Tokoroa, died on Monday last week after she went blind and suffered severe brain damage. She had drunk 160ml - enough to kill
two people.
Police are investigating whether she knew what the liquid was or if she thought it was a type of home brew.
Her cousin Renee Quaife said Ms Altmann partied at a friend's house in Tokoroa in the three nights leading up to when she checked into hospital.
She had taken the older of her two children, Kavanah, to the gathering on the Thursday night.
On the Friday morning her mother, Cheryle Altmann, came home to find Daneka lying on the couch feeling unwell. Her boyfriend Eugene - Kavanah's father - took her to Tokoroa Hospital.
While slipping in and out of consciousness, Daneka told nurses she thought she had been drinking vodka, Mrs Quaife said. Eugene picked up the bottle from the house where the party was held. Doctors tested the liquid and found it was 100 per cent methanol.
Daneka was later transferred to Waikato Hospital, where she slipped into a coma before she died. Mrs Quaife said the man who lived at the house was known as a methamphetamine dealer and Daneka had also been mixed up in the drug before she died.
She had got in with the wrong crowd after the death of her brother Ben about three years ago.
She had also suffered emotionally after her mother had an aneurism about two years ago, Mrs Quaife said.
Daneka also had a 2-year-old daughter, Dio, with a different father. Both of the children are with Kavanah's father and the family are working with Child, Youth and Family over their future.
"Kavanah should have never been with her at the party," Mrs Quaife said.
"A child should not have been in an ugly situation like that.
"We want to send a message to people to check what they are drinking. If we can save one person, we are doing our part."
Daneka, known as Neeks, was farewelled at a service at her mother's home on Friday before she was buried at the Tokoroa Lawn Cemetery with her brother Ben.
Detective Senior Sergeant Todd Pearce of the Taupo CIB said police were still looking to speak to people who were with Daneka when she drank the chemical.
"The matter will eventually be referred to the coroner ... Whether or not that combines with a police prosecution is yet to be determined."
