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Mom dies after electricity cut
30/05/2007 12:47 - (SA)
Wellington - A New Zealand mother of four who needed an electric oxygen pump to breathe died after an energy company cut the power to her home due to an unpaid bill, a family spokesperson claimed on Wednesday.
Police said they had launched an investigation into the death of Folole Muliaga, 44, on Tuesday, in the northern city of Auckland, which happened within two hours of Mercury Energy cutting power to her house.
Mercury Energy's general manager, James Moulder, said the company was devastated by the woman's death and was conducting its own investigation to determine what happened.
He refused to say how much money Muliaga had owed the company.
Family spokesperson Brenden Sheehan said Muliaga, a schoolteacher with four children aged five to 18, had been off work since February with an illness.
He said that when a Mercury Energy representative had arrived to disconnect the electricity on Tuesday, both Muliaga and her son had told him she was dependent on the oxygen machine to stay alive.
"They came to the house and they were aware of the circumstances when it was cut off," Sheehan told National Radio.
'Deep condolences'
When the power was cut, Muliaga began having difficulty breathing, then became faint and collapsed, he said. Paramedics were called but were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead within two hours of the power being cut.
Inspector Bruce Bird said police would investigate the death.
Moulder said that the company restored electricity to the house on Wednesday after learning of the woman's death, and that the grieving family had spent a night without power.
Moulder expressed his "deep condolences" to the family, and said the company was checking reports that it had been warned Muliaga needed power for the oxygen machine.
Auckland University professor of law Bill Hodge said manslaughter charges could potentially could be filed, depending on what information Mercury Energy had and how it was expressed to them.
- AP
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