Source: Radio New Zealand
Jacqualine Wheeler was a respected member of the equestrian community. Supplied
Jacqualine Suzanne Wheeler, 71, from Rotorua has been formally identified as a victim of the Mount Maunganui landslide.
She’s the last of six people marked as missing in the days following the slip.
The others were, in the order of their formal identification, Max Furse-Kee, 15, Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20, Lisa Anne Maclennan, 50, Sharon Maccanico, 15, and Susan Doreen Knowles, 71.
The slip tore down tents, caravans and structures, when it swept through the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park and the Mount Hot Pools on 22 January at 9.29am.
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell had earlier confirmed on social media that Wheeler, known as Jackie, was from the area and was the founder of Colour Concepts, an interior design store in Rotorua.
Wheeler had been on her annual summer camping trip with long-time camping buddy Susan Knowles, who was formally identified earlier today.
The pair went camping there together every summer, Holtom said.
Equestrian magazine Show Circuit posted a tribute to the pair on social media.
“Sue and Jackie were well known, and deeply respected within the local equestrian community and this news has come as a profound shock to all who knew them,” it said.
Chief coroner Anna Tutton told the court, despite the procedural nature of the hearing, Jackie as a person had been at the centre of the investigation. While her family were not in attendance at the court, Tutton extended her condolences to them.
She said Wheeler was described as the “backbone and matriarch” of her family.
Evidence was presented by Detective Senior Sergeant Brent Griffiths, who told the court Wheeler had been identified by her fingerprints and by comparing her DNA with that of her daughter.
The remains would now be released from custody of the coroner to the family.
As this was the final identification hearing, Tutton thanked everyone who had been involved in the recovery and identification of the victims, including emergency services, those standing on a cordon, driving diggers and trucks, caterers and cleaners.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
