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An elderly woman shopping with her husband died when their grocery trolley slid backwards and collapsed on top of them because its wheels failed to lock into place on a mall travelator.
The tragedy has once again raised concerns about the safety of the moving footpaths, which have been blamed for accidents in the past.
Mervin Baucke and his wife of 48 years, Betty, 75, stepped on to the travelator ramp at their local mall with their shopping trolley full of the week's groceries.
When Mr Baucke pushed the trolley on to the travelator it did not lock into place as it was designed to do and the wheels slid back slightly.
About a third of the way up to the upper-level car park of the Christchurch mall, the right rear wheel on the trolley appeared to be out of sync with the left one, he told police.
"The [trolley] started coming back at me. I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw it. It was pushing me back and I was trying to hold it at the same time.
"I fell backwards and I don't know if I fell on Betty or not, but I turned around and she had fallen down and was slumped on the side of the travelator."
The former Auckland woman lay bleeding from the head as people rushed to help. Five days later, on January 19, 2005, she died in hospital.
Her death was found to be a result of heavy bleeding caused by a head injury when she fell.
At an inquest into her death yesterday, Christchurch coroner Richard McElrea heard it was not the first time such an accident had happened on the travelator at Westfield Riccarton.
Retailer Sh'vaughn Perret told police he had worked at the mall for about five years and had seen previous accidents involving trolleys in which "people have moved on to the travelator and while trying to re-adjust ... they trip over".
The inquest heard the trolley involved was never identified among a group left at the top of the travelator.
But none of the group of 14 tested was found to have any defect which could have caused the accident. The Department of Labour also found no fault with the travelator.
John Huang, of the department, said it was possible the trolley was not lined up properly in the centre of the travelator, gravel may have been embedded in grooves of the travelator or the trolley wheels, force on the handles of the trolley may have forced the end of it up, or there might have been a combination of the three.
A witness who came to Mrs Baucke's aid, Blair Dravitski, said he saw the trolley fly up and groceries go everywhere.
"She didn't say a word and she was white as a ghost. She didn't look in a good way."
Mrs Baucke's sister, Naomi Haynes, told the Herald her sister was a very private person and would be horrified at the attention her death was getting.
Mrs Haynes was thankful she got to spend a few months with her sister, who had moved from Auckland to Christchurch five months earlier, "but I wish it had been longer".
The loss of his wife has taken a heavy toll on Mr Baucke, who is in the care of health authorities in Christchurch.
The inquest will reconvene later.
