With this week's guilty verdict for Whakaari Management Limited (WML) on one charge, one of New Zealand's biggest health and safety cases is a step closer to ending after years of work.
WML was the last defendant left standing after WorkSafe originally laid charges against 13 parties in November 2020. The charges were laid shortly before the first anniversary of the horrific December 2019 eruption that killed 22 people.
Sentencing for the guilty parties will take place early next year.
The trial saw survivors give harrowing accounts of their experiences on the island that day, with a dream trip turning into a nightmare.
Here's everything you need to know, from the eruption to today.
December 2019
Survivors and family members remained silent as the video was shown. (Source: 1News)
Whakaari White Island erupted at 2.11pm on December 9, 2019.
There were 47 people on the island when it erupted, including tourists and guides.
Twenty-two died, either that day or later as a result of their injuries. Almost all of the survivors suffered severe or critical injuries.
The sudden explosion sent a wave of hot gas and rocks across the island. Some tourists were killed by projectiles of rock spewed from the volcano during the eruption and others suffered devastating burns. Rescue helicopters and boats rushed to help.
Later - including during the trial - a number of survivors would detail their terrible injuries.
Among the witnesses were a helicopter pilot on his first unsupervised flight to Whakaari who took shelter underwater; an American visitor on her honeymoon who clutched her new husband's hand; and a then-19-year-old whose mother, father and sister all died.
November 2020
In November 2020, shortly before the first anniversary of the eruption, WorkSafe laid charges against 13 parties.
Those charges were against 10 organisations and three individuals, for allegedly failing to meet their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act in the lead-up to the eruption.
The charges were laid against Whakaari Management Limited and its directors Andrew, James and Peter Buttle, GNS Science, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), White Island Tours Limited, Volcanic Air Safaris Limited, Aerius Limited, Kahu NZ Limited, Inflite Charters Limited, ID Tours New Zealand Limited and Tauranga Tourism Services Limited.
None of the charges related to rescues or anything that happened on the day of the eruption or the events that followed.
However, there was still some public outcry that companies run by helicopter pilots who were later recognised for their heroic rescue efforts were among the defendants. None of the pilots were charged individually.
The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the delay in bringing the charges to trial.
October 2021
As work was underway to bring the charges laid by WorkSafe to trial, the agency itself was the subject of scrutiny.
WorkSafe's performance relating to the island's eruption was independently reviewed. That review found the regulator "fell short of good practice in its regulation of activities on Whakaari White Island over the 2014-19 period".
WorkSafe "welcomed the recommendations" in the report.
March 2023
The 2019 eruption claimed 22 lives. After years of work, charges related to one of New Zealand's most deadly recent disasters will finally be heard in court. (Source: 1News)
NEMA had its charges dismissed and was awarded costs of $40,000.
Inflite Charters, which promoted and sold subcontracted tours to Whakaari, pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $267,500 for failing to ensure the health and safety of tourists even though it had no customers on Whakaari when it erupted.
May 2023
GNS Science pleaded guilty. GNS is yet to be sentenced and faces a maximum fine of $500,000.
June 2023
White Island Tours pleaded guilty in June.
It is also yet to be sentenced and faces a maximum fine of $1.5 million for each of their two charges.
Of the 22 people who died, 19 were customers of White Island Tours and two were employees.
July 2023
Six defendants will go on trial tomorrow, facing charges laid in the wake of the deadly 2019 eruption. (Source: 1News)
Just days before the trial was set to begin, three more defendants entered last-minute guilty pleas.
They were Volcanic Air Safaris Limited, Aerius Limited and Kahu New Zealand Limited.
Volcanic Air Safaris faces a maximum fine of $1.5 million for each of its two charges, while Aerius and Kahu face maximum fines of $500,000 for their charges. Each of Aerius and Kahu pleaded guilty to two charges. They are also yet to be sentenced.
On July 10, the trial in Auckland was formally opened with a whakatau.
Evidence against the remaining six defendants began to be heard on July 11.
September 2023
In a major and unexpected development, charges against the Buttle brothers were dismissed on September 5 this year.
The brothers - who own the island - had made a last-ditch appeal and were successful.
Judge Evangelos Thomas ruled there was insufficient evidence against them as individuals.
Shortly after, Tauranga Tourism Services and ID Tours applied to have their charges dismissed as well.
On September 12, that application was granted, leaving WML as the sole remaining defendant.
On September 21, Judge Thomas reserved his decision on WML.
October 2023
The verdict comes nearly four years after the eruption which killed 22 people. (Source: 1News)
On October 31, Judge Thomas found WML guilty of one health and safety charge. He dismissed a second charge.
The company faces a maximum fine of $1.5 million.
Nearly four years after December 9, 2019, the question of responsibility for safety measures ahead of the eruption had been answered.
Judge Thomas gave "special tribute" to the survivors who gave evidence, praising their "powerful and respectful voice".
"Families and communities in New Zealand and around the world were and continue to be deeply affected," he noted.
The reaction to the judgment was mixed. Avey Woods, the mother of tour guide Hayden Marshall Inman who died in the eruption, said: "We've had an answer today which means we can move forward."
What comes next?
Reaction from family members of some of those killed and injured in the eruption nearly four years was mixed, Sam Kelway reports. (Source: 1News)
Everyone affected by the case faces one more hearing. Sentencing is scheduled for February next year.
Inflite Charters has already been ordered to pay a fine. GNS Science, White Island Tours, Volcanic Air Safaris Limited, Aerius Limited and Kahu New Zealand Limited will face sentencing in February after their guilty pleas. WML will also be sentenced after its guilty verdict.
And after that, another chapter in the island's history will be closed.
"This isn't a happy case, there are no winners from matters like this," WML lawyer James Cairney said.
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