An Auckland courtroom is packed for the sentencing of six parties for health and safety breaches before the Whakaari/White Island eruption in December 2019.
WorkSafe prosecutor Kristy McDonald KC revealed the level of reparation each organisation had available.
Whakaari Management Limited, which is the company that owns the island, said it has no money or other assets and does not offer any money by way of reparation. "Its role was merely a corporate trustee of the Whakaari Management Trust, a family trust."
White Island Tours has $5 million available for reparation through an insurance policy. This is available for the 38 tourists and four workers who were on the volcano with the company.
Volcanic Air has $300,000 available through an insurance policy. This would cover the four tourists and the worker it had on the volcano at the time.
These three organisations, as well as Kahu New Zealand and Aerius Limited, "all say that they do not have any ability to pay a fine".
"All five defendants ask the court not to impose a fine that would otherwise be appropriate. They are effectively asking the court to convict and discharge them without penalty because they have no money."
She said key questions for the court will be "how to divide the very limited funds available for reparation between a substantial number of victims in a fairest way" and "whether to decline to impose an appropriate fine on the basis that the defendants will not be able to pay it".
WorkSafe argued that appropriate fines should be imposed, even if the defendants are not able to pay them.
Judge Evangelos Thomas reassured those who plan to give victim impact statements that they will have a number of options. “We can prevent the broadcast of these proceedings, we can suppress your names, we can prevent any publication of what you might wish to say, and of your own personal details, we can prevent publication of the contents of your victim impact statements.”
There were 47 people on the island when it erupted on December 9, 2019: 22 died while almost all of the survivors suffered severe or critical injuries. A large number are expected to read victim impact statements over the next two days.
He said: “Four years is far too long to wait for your voices to be heard.”
“This is an important moment in the history of the island and the history of the tragedy. Yours are very important voices, it's important that we hear those.”
What you need to know
Six parties are being sentenced. They are:
- White Island Tours (two charges, maximum fine of $1.5m for each charge),
- Volcanic Air Safaris (the same as above),
- Whakaari Management Limited (one charge, maximum fine of $1.5m),
- Aerius Limited (two charges, maximum fine of $500,000 for each charge),
- Kahu New Zealand (the same),
- and GNS Science (one charge, maximum fine of $500,000).
Whakaari Management Limited (WML) operates the island on behalf of its owners, GNS is a Crown research institute and the other guilty parties are tour companies. WML was found guilty at trial while the others all entered guilty pleas.
The charges were to do with health and safety failings ahead of the eruption - none of them are connected to anything that happened after the eruption, such as rescue efforts.
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