Judge Evangelos Thomas was hearing the last of the victim impact statements this week. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Victims of the Whakaari / White Island disaster returned to the Auckland District Court to confront the five tourism companies found guilty in last year's trial.
Whakaari Management Limited, White Island Tours, Volcanic Air Safaris, Aerius and Kahu NZ are in the court facing fines of up to $1.5 million each and reparations.
GNS Science, the sixth guilty party, will be sentenced separately later this week.
Victims and their family members addressed the court with the last of their impact statements before the hearing moved into its next phase.
Julie Richards and her 20-year-old daughter Jess were two of the 22 people who died in the eruption on 9 December, 2019.
A statement from Julie Richards' sister Barbara Whitehead was read by WorkSafe investigator Casey Broad.
Whitehead described the moment she discovered her sister and niece had died.
"I went to Auckland with my brother, David, and we had DNA tests done," she said.
"We were told Jess was in the morgue in Auckland but Julie hadn't been found."
Hayden-Marshall-Inman. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Whitehead criticised media reporting of the event.
"In the early days the press were awful, even turning up in our driveway," she said.
"My parents were elderly at the time and we tried to shield them from some of the details.
"At one point we did give [the media] photos of Jess and Julie and this was a mistake. When the photos were shown on television my mother saw them and said 'look, there they are... they're fine.'"
Avey Woods, the mother of tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman who died in the disaster, was the last victim to present a statement.
"When Hayds died on White Island, a piece of me died. You cannot mend a mother's broken heart," she began.
"He nurtured and he was a confidant to his niece, nephews, godchildren... he taught them so much and he still had so much to give."
Woods performed a poem for the court.
"I have been crying today, through my memories," she said.
"As I reach for my son, you look, you say: distraction is a cure for a mum... you do not see this broken heart of mine."
Judge Evangelos Thomas was visibly emotional as Woods concluded her statement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, to all of you who have given so much of yourselves over the last two days ... thank you. I'm in awe of that, thank you," Thomas said.
Meanwhile, some parties among the defendants have applied for suppression of aspects of the financial material relating to their companies.
Judge Thomas granted the suppression in the meantime, but said that some or all of those orders may be amended or discharged after sentencing.
The judge assured those in the public gallery: "If there's any reason why somebody ends up not having to pay what they would otherwise be due, everyone will find out exactly why."
Families deserve payout - WorkSafe
Beginning her oral submission on behalf of WorkSafe, prosecutor Kristy McDonald KC hammered home the importance of adequate reparations for victims.
"Reparation is of paramount importance in this case, it cannot undo what was done and it cannot make amends but it can go some way to recompensing for the offending," she said.
Kristy McDonald KC in court on 26 February 2024. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
McDonald argued that victims were entitled to the highest reparations possible.
"Emotional harm payments in this case should be at the top end of the available range to reflect the extraordinary emotional harm suffered by both survivors and family members of the deceased," she said.
"Several features of this case taken together justify emotional harm payments as high as or beyond those made in other broadly comparable cases."
Though the sentencing hearing was originally set for two weeks, Judge Evangelos Thomas indicated that it was proceeding ahead of schedule.
"It's going to be well short of the two weeks people have been talking about, you'll be pleased to hear," he said.
But he stopped short of specifying a date.
"I don't want to make any commitments about any of that, because lawyers always take longer than they say they're going to take."
The hearing will continue with submissions from each of the five tourism companies.