Richard Thomson
The death of a young Dunedin man from inhaling butane gas
should serve as a warning that anyone who plays the odds can
lose at any time, no matter who they are, his family says.
Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar has found James Paul
Cessford (19) died on April 1, 2009 from the side-effects of
"huffing", or inhaling, butane.
His family says Mr Cessford's death should be a warning to
everyone.
James Cessford
"I think there is a common view that people sniffing
solvents are a certain kind of person - down and out, in
trouble, 'solvent abusers', whatever," family spokesman Richard
Thomson said.
"James (Jimmy) didn't fit those stereotypes and that should
be a warning to everyone. He was a good, loving and loveable
kid. He had a great job as a trapper at Macraes Doc reserve,
that he absolutely loved.
"He had a zest for life that was inspiring and that there
were 500 people at his funeral evidenced how much he touched
other people."
But Mr Cessford was a risk taker.
"He was the kid that would ride his bike off a sheer drop,
who gave his parents (and grandparents) conniptions regularly
because he was fearless. That both made him in one way, and
was also his Achilles heel in another."
Solvent sniffing to get high was akin to playing Russian
roulette, Mr Thomson said.
"We lost a great kid because he didn't think about the risks.
You don't have to be a solvent addict to lose the gamble. You
just have to play the odds and you can lose any time.
"If James' death and the fact that the circumstances of it
are public are to have any positive purpose then I hope it
might be that someone else doesn't take that risk."
Specialist forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage told the
recent inquest butane was readily available and the most
commonly abused volatile inhalant in New Zealand, and its use
carried a significant risk of inadvertent death.
Mr Cessford's body was found five days after his death by the
occupants of a property next door to the Cessfords' home. The
body was in the neighbour's yard.
Details of how Mr Cessford might have arrived there were
suppressed.
The coroner's findings, released earlier this month, said
that in the early evening on the day Mr Cessford died he had
been socialising with his brother and other friends in his
brother's sleepout in the garage at the Cessford family home.
Their parents were both away at the time.
Police said Mr Cessford left his friends, went to his bedroom
inside the house and inhaled the butane. Cannisters were
later found in his room.
He was seen in his bed alive a few minutes after he left the
garage.
Mr Cessford was reported missing by his brother, Robert, and
friend Sam McKinney the next day.
Mr Crerar said Mr Thomson had raised issues during the
inquest in relation to matters of police practice relating to
interviews and the presentation of evidence.
Mr Thomson said yesterday he could not discuss his concerns
about the police interviewing process without going into
details of suppressed matters, but the family had received an
apology from the police with respect to the particular matter
that had "incensed" them and were unlikely to take the matter
any further.
With regard to the matter of evidence, it still concerned him
that people involved in inquests were not entitled to the
same disclosure of evidence from the police, that people
involved in a criminal matter were entitled to.
"That does mean that if you're representing the family
interest, you may not have access to all the information you
need."
Mr Crerar said it was acknowledged that there was always a
dilemma when there was an investigation by the police into a
sudden death. There was often tension between the police's
obligations under the Coroners Act and their parallel
obligation to investigate a crime.
"The death of James Cessford continues such tension."
