Toby Waitokia News Today

In the second of a two-part series, Phil Pennington looks at the plight of two families battling the system to come to the truth about a double-fatal truck collision.

Two West Otago families were subjected to one of the country's longest and most fraught fatal crash investigations after a truck collision killed two people. Phil Pennington looks at what went wrong.

In May 2021, Shona Brenssell and Dale Waitokia got word that Brenssell’s husband’s name had been cleared, and he was not responsible for causing the crash as police initially indicated, when Coroner Peter Ryan found it was unfair to say Wayne had contributed to the accident. The first coroners report concluded that Wayne’s erratic driving – and more specifically, a braking manoeuvre – caused the crash. The pair had been employed by Calder Developments. Instead, Coroner Ryan put th...

Police have acknowledged a coroners findings a crash near Gore, eight years ago, wasnt caused by the driver Police have acknowledged a coroners findings a crash near Gore, eight years ago, wasnt caused by the driver 24 May 2021 Murray Brenssell and passenger Toby Waitokia died after their truck and trailer overturned on the Waikaka Valley-Tapanui Highway Their families were dissatisfied with the original Coroners findings and the Police investigation. After engaging with experts here and in...

Initial investigations suggested that a braking manoeuvre from Brenssell was the cause of the crash. After taking more evidence and expert opinion into account, Coroner Ryan found it was more likely the A-frame collapsed as they entered the bend, shifting the weight, and initiating the roll-over sequence. This is what their families believed had happened and why they kept pushing to change the initial finding. Kavinda Herath/Stuff Shona Brenssell, left, and Dale Waitokia have been fighting f...

Police have praised two Otago families for fighting for years to find out what caused a truck crash that killed two men.