One of the two men who was with Tina was alongside her limp body on the steps leading into the pool. He was screaming, “Help, help, help me!”, awaking one of the occupants of the house.
A Waingaro Hot Springs worker who lives on site and the two men who had been with Tina worked to try to save her, performing CPR. From the gate, the woman called an ambulance. By now, it was 3.28am.
Medics arrived about 25 minutes later and, with the help of a defibrillator, located a faint pulse. Tina was rushed to Waikato Hospital. But about three-and-a-half hours after that initial ambulance call, hospital medical staff and family made the heartbreaking decision to stop compressions.
How did a 41-year-old Hamilton mum, who could swim, die after being in a pool that came up to her waist at best?
Tina White died in hospital after being pulled unresponsive from a hot pool at Waingaro Hot Springs just after 3am on March 25.
‘We want to bring them answers, too’
The precise details of what led to the death of Tina Michelle White early on Wednesday, March 25, are now subject to a police investigation on behalf of the coroner.
Initially, an officer at Huntly police station indicated to the Herald that there were suspicious circumstances.
But in a subsequent official statement, police had a different position.
“After the initial investigation and a forensic post-mortem [examination], there are no suspicious circumstances identified, and as such, the matter is being investigated on behalf of the coroner,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Ian Foster, the police area investigation manager for Waikato West.
“There is no further information available for release.”
The police have not publicly released the preliminary cause of death, nor the outcome of toxicology and histology reports.
Foster also said police had “been in regular contact with the family, and we continue to offer support.
“We fully appreciate they are grieving and looking for answers – we want to bring them answers too.”
Waingaro Hot Springs, west of Ngāruawāhia – Tina White died in hospital after an after-hours escapade at the pools early on March 25. Photo / file
In an initial statement in the week after Tina’s death, Detective Veronica Roling said: “Police are making inquiries following the death of a woman found unresponsive at a hot springs in Waingaro …
“Police were called to the hot springs at around 3.30am on Wednesday, 25 March, following reports of a woman unresponsive in water.
“She was transported to hospital in a critical condition, and died at the hospital a short time later.
“The death has been referred to the coroner, and police continue to make inquiries on behalf of the coroner.”
‘I wouldn’t have swapped her for the world’
At Tina’s funeral on March 30, family and friends remembered a feisty and fun individual, an “avid networker”, and a cook who made “divine” lasagne and macaroni and cheese dishes.
Her daughter, 14, described her as “the strongest person I ever knew”, someone who held forthright opinions and did not sway from them.
“I love my mum, and I wouldn’t have swapped her for the world.”
For Tina’s sister, who called her “my best friend”, the death is a mystery and, in her own opinion, suspicious.
For the past six weeks, she has been seeking answers, interviewing those who were there, visiting the hot pools several times and accessing other information. She is planning to meet formally with the police.
She has questions about the actions and movements of the three people who were with Tina that night and about what she considers to be discrepancies in their stories.
She believes police need to be digging deeper and treating the case with more urgency. She said she had to drive one of the three people to the police station so they could give a statement.
And, without removing responsibility of the four who jumped the fence, she questions whether the ageing pools have appropriate security and lighting in place.
She has pieced together what she has heard from the trio who were with Tina, and what follows is, she says, what they’ve told her.
While the group of four were all together initially on the night in question, it appears they separated towards the end of their visit, and Tina was alone for a period, according to the inquiries made by Tina’s sister.
One of the men and the other woman had left the pools to return to their car on the roadside. The other man trailed behind.
One said that Tina was getting dressed at this point. The other two said she was still on the steps leading to the pool.
Regardless, the trio expected her to be following behind them. After a few minutes, she still hadn’t arrived back at the car.
The trio then apparently left in the car for an unknown period of time before eventually returning to the pools to find Tina.
One of the men went back inside the complex, according to Tina’s sister.
He told her that Tina was back in the water and that he helped her to the side of the pool, and around to the steps and a handrail, eventually dragging her to a top step, with her body well out of the water.
He said she was conscious and that he returned to the roadside to summon help from the other two.
The pair told him to return and get Tina, but as he walked back to the pool a second time, he said he heard a splash, and Tina was back in the water, this time with her head below the surface. He cried out, alerting the man at the roadside.
Tina White was initially helped from this hot pool, with her body lying on the concrete and her feet on the top step of the pool. Somehow, she ended up back in the water.
With both men now back at the pool, one of them pulled Tina from the water.
“Help, help, help me!” he cried, the noise awaking the occupants of the house and sparking the emergency response.
Sister’s questions
Since Tina’s death, her sister has many unanswered questions that she feels would help her understand what happened, among them:
What happened when the three friends left Tina the first time?How long were they away, and how long was she alone?How did Tina end up back in the pool that first time, when she was supposedly getting dressed?How did she end up in the water a second time?Why was she only partially clothed?Why were there, as the sister claims, marks on Tina’s head and shoulders?
The sister is not excusing the responsibility of the quartet who broke into the hot pools late at night, but she has also questioned security measures at the pool.
She wants to be assured that the pools have appropriate cameras, lighting and life-saving equipment on hand, including a defibrillator.
The pool’s owners have declined to comment in detail over the past few weeks, other than to say the incident happened after hours, after the four climbed the fence.
One of the two men who was with Tina that night told the Herald: “Everything I’ve said, I’ve already told the police. It’s too sad a story for me, I’m sorry to say. I don’t really want to talk about it, mate, sorry.”
The other woman who was with the group declined to comment to the Herald, hanging up.
The other man did not answer repeated calls or a message.
All three are understood to have been interviewed by police.
‘She needs justice’
For Tina’s sister, it’s a question of finding the truth, receiving answers to all her questions, and ensuring police are treating the case as a priority.
She says her sister’s death is “heartbreaking and unfair”.
“She deserved more and better in life, and she deserves more and better from the police investigating her death. She always had a raw deal, and I feel so much sadness for her.
“I’m not letting that happen to her again, especially now.
“She’s a 41-year-old woman who’s a beautiful mum and an amazing person.
“She was my best friend. At the end of the day, I just can’t let it go. She needs justice.”
Do you have information or feedback? Please email shayne.currie@nzme.co.nz
Waingaro’s colourful history
Waingaro Hot Springs, 24km west of Ngāruawāhia, has a colourful and eventful history.
In its heyday in the 80s and 90s, it drew sizeable summer crowds, a go-to fun park in the heart of Waikato. Its pools are complemented by two water slides: one long and straight, the other weaving down a grassy hillside. The complex also has private spas, a bumper boats area, a camping ground, a shop and a hotel.
Waingaro Hot Springs, 24km west of Ngāruawāhia.
It’s old-school fun, but it needs some TLC.
The business has been on the market since February last year.
“With a bit of blood, sweat and tears, it could be pretty special again,” Bayleys real estate agent Josh Smith told OneRoof last year.
The Herald visited Waingaro last month, on a still and mild late Tuesday morning, just over three weeks after Tina’s death. Two customers – two women travelling together – turned up in the two hours.
Music blared from the small gatehouse shop. Curtains were drawn on the house that overlooks the pool.
Over several phone calls in the past few weeks, the owners of the hot pools, Chuhar (Chood) and Amro Singh, did not wish to comment to the Herald about the incident.
In a brief telephone conversation with Chood Singh on March 31, he made clear that the incident involving Tina happened after hours, when the facility was closed.
His wife reiterated this week that they did not wish to comment.
The Singhs, now in their 80s, have owned the hot pools since 1993. They acquired the business back then for $1.325 million.
The 14.5-hectare block on which the hot pools sit is owned by the Waikato District Council and leased to the Singhs.
According to some locals, the pools haven’t changed a lot in 33 years.
The outdoor water slides at Waingaro Hot Springs. File photo / David Kerr
The complex has previously been in the spotlight over maintenance work and near drownings.
It was at the centre of a High Court Case in 2015, when the council tried to cancel the lease. It accused the Singhs of failing to make necessary repairs, but the court rejected the council’s bid. It ordered the Singhs to make the repairs within three months – they spent more than $500,000 bringing the facility up to the required standard.
There have been two drownings at the pools (in 1996 and 2002) and two near-drownings of children (in 2018 and 2019). Those latter incidents led to claims of a lack of lifeguards on patrol. At the time, Waingaro Hot Springs declined to respond to the allegations.
Smith told OneRoof last year that there was now an opportunity for someone to acquire one of the few waterparks left in the country.
“They [the owners] are retiring. They’ve done their time, and they are ready to let it go.”
On the facility itself, he said: “The bones are still there.”
He also recalled to OneRoof the “Go Waingaro Go” advertising jingle from the 80s and 90s.
“It was famous. It was on TV and on the radio and everything,” he said. “TV advertising back then was expensive, and they could afford to do it.”
Waikato District Council confirmed to the Herald that it was aware of the incident on March 25 and of Tina’s death.
“This is a matter for police, and we are unable to comment on the circumstances while their inquiries are ongoing. Any questions relating to the incident itself should be directed to police,” said a spokeswoman.
“The land is vested in Waikato District Council and is managed as a recreation reserve under the Reserves Act 1977.
“While [the] council owns the land, the business operations are privately run. The motel, hotel and hot pools operate under separate leases held by Chuhar and Amro Singh …
“Council has not had any recent safety concerns relating to the operation of the pools.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME, including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor, and has a small shareholding in NZME.