Kiwi killed in Melbourne balcony plunge

The family of a New Zealand woman who fell to her death from a Melbourne apartment balcony at the weekend are mystified by what happened.

Chantelle Klasema (29) died after plunging from the third-floor balcony of an apartment in the suburb of Collingwood, landing in an enclosed courtyard below.

Her father Jaap Klasema said he had no idea how it could have happened.

Chantelle died at the scene, while a 35-year-old man who also fell was last night in a stable condition in the Alfred Hospital.

Klasema, who lives in Thailand, said he was struggling to come to terms with his daughter's death in such unusual circumstances.

He found it "extremely strange" that two people could fall from a balcony.

"I have never in my life heard a story where two people dropped from a building.

"I just don't know what to think of all this. She was such a sweet person. She was intelligent and had a big heart.

"She would do anything for anybody.

"She was a darling," he said.

Channel 7 in Australia reported the pair did not deliberately fall, but "overbalanced", and that police had labelled the incident a "misadventure".

The man overbalanced and perhaps reached out to grab the woman to stop himself from falling, but instead had pulled her over with him, neighbours told Channel 7.

Police were not treating the death as suspicious.

Police believe the pair were up all night partying, Channel 7 reported.

Klasema said he was "desperate" to find out what happened.

"I'm walking around in a daze, being so far away. It's hopeless," Klasema said.

He last saw Chantelle in person about three years ago.

Although he had lived apart from her and her elder brother Steve for many years, he said he regularly spoke to Chantelle by phone or Skype.

Klasema said his daughter loved international travel and because she held Dutch and Kiwi citizenship papers, the world was her oyster.

Klasema grew up in Havelock North, and moved to Melbourne in her 20s. She was working for an IT company when she died.

Residents of the modern apartment building told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper they heard a party in the complex the night before Chantelle died.

Her body and that of the injured man, whose condition was initially "critical", were discovered about 11.30am on Saturday morning soon after they were believed to have fallen from a height of about 10m, landing on the tarseal near rubbish skips.

Victoria police spent much of Saturday examining the scene and speaking to residents, but by Sunday morning said they were not treating Chantelle's death as suspicious and were preparing a report for the coroner.

Leading Senior-Constable Adam West said police had spoken to the injured man in hospital.

The investigation was ongoing.

Add a Comment