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Stacy Squires / Stuff
An investigation into the death of Kimberley Grace Williams was conducted in Christchurch District Court on Thursday. (File photo)
A Christchurch woman says her friend left her home “on a halt” after a night of drinking before being found dead by the back door shortly after.
Kimberley Grace Williams, 38, was found dead after paramedics were called to an apartment block on April 21, 2018.
An autopsy later showed that he died from blunt force trauma that caused a brain hemorrhage.
A coronary investigation into Williams’ death was conducted on Thursday in front of coroner David Robinson in Christchurch District Court.
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Brian Elliffe, who lived in the compound where Williams died, said Williams’s friend knocked on his door in the early hours of the morning. She was slurring her words, seemed intoxicated and was “all over the place.” His name has been deleted by the coroner.
Elliffe said the woman asked to use her phone because hers was flat and she needed to call 111. She told him she thought Williams was dead and that “they won’t believe me in court,” she said.
The woman said she was misquoted.
After calling emergency services, Elliffe and the woman approached her apartment where she saw Williams lying on the ground. Williams “didn’t look good” and wasn’t moving. .
Pathologist Dr. Martin Sage said in the investigation that Williams had suffered several blunt force injuries and bruises that were consistent with falling down the steps and hitting his face on the ground first.
Sage said there was no evidence to determine whether Williams fell because she was intoxicated or because of something else. His blood alcohol level was 443 mg per 100 ml of blood, almost nine times the limit for drunk driving.
“All the things that we can see are consistent with this being an accidental death,” he said, but added that he could not exclude other possibilities.
“I thought the worst”
Williams’s friend said she had started drinking at lunchtime and continued until the next morning.
Williams arrived around 6.30pm and they had a couple of drinks before hitting a bar. They later went to a supermarket before returning home and drinking more.
He went looking for Williams early in the morning and found her lying face down outside, near the back door steps.
“I thought he had passed out from the alcohol, but it didn’t really scare me. I screamed his name and when there was nothing, I thought the worst: that he passed out from alcohol poisoning. ”
A detective who interviewed the woman said in the investigation that she was drunk, upset and erratic, and that he struggled to get clear answers from her.
The detective said the woman told him that she and Williams “had some words” earlier in the evening, but later reconciled. He did not say why they disagreed.
The woman said Williams was “strutting” and “high” when she left the apartment, the detective said. The woman said the investigation said she did not recall saying that.
She confirmed that she and Williams had words about something that happened at a party three years earlier, but that it was not serious and “had been fixed.”
“Kim was my friend, she tried to offer me help without my asking. She was a good person to me. I wish things were different. I wish I could say more, ”he said.
The coroner reserved his findings.
