A 15-year-old Nelson boy found dead with a cord around his neck was the victim of an accident while practising tying knots, a coroner has found.
Coroner Carla na Nagara has ruled Ethan Herron accidentally hanged himself on April 17 last year, after spending the day playing.
In her finding, released today, Coroner na Nagara said Ethan did not respond when his mother Greta called out to him twice in the afternoon.
He was outside, kneeling with his eyes closed.
His mother went outside to squirt him with a bottle of water after the second call, thinking he was ignoring her and hoping she would make him laugh.
When he didn't respond, she noticed his lips looked funny, the finding said.
Ms Herron called out to her stepfather Gavin Scott.
He saw Ethan had a yellow cord tied tightly around his neck and cut it off with a knife.
Ethan, who had no pulse and was not breathing, could not be revived.
Coroner na Nagara said the evidence before her overwhelmingly painted Ethan as a happy and well-adjusted teenager. She said Ethan had strong friendships, a supportive family and did not demonstrate any signs of being suicidal on the day of his death.
On the day before he died, he had been practising knot-tying from a book and had become frustrated at not being able to tie one correctly, she said.
A submission from his mother said: He was just having a good time mucking around. I believe he died as a result of an accident. I don't believe he would have done it on purpose.
There was no evidence indicating Ethan was intending to kill himself, Coroner na Nagara said.
She judged his death to be the result of an accidental hanging and extended sympathy to his family and friends.
