\u201cHe was a big character, part of a multi-generational farming family and a significant part of the community,\u201d Tasman Mayor Tim King said.<\/p>\n
Wakefield hop grower Peter Lines was killed last June, a month before his 68th birthday. The fifth-generation hop grower was a grandfather to eight and great-grandfather to two. <\/p>\n
Coroner Amelia Steel<\/a> said the fatality happened during efforts to mitigate the impact of debris in the rising Wai-iti River next to the Lines\u2019 hop farm.<\/p>\n At the time, the region was in the grip of a series of severe weather events, which led to a state of emergency being declared in the Tasman District.<\/p>\n Coroner Steel said Lines had asked his son, Stacey Lines, to use a digger to clear debris from the flooded river where it ran through the family\u2019s Totara Terrace hop farm near Wakefield, south of Nelson.<\/p>\n Struck while standing on riverbank<\/p>\n Lines and his wife, Marlene Lines, were standing on a riverbank watching him work.<\/p>\n As he lifted a large poplar tree, their son became aware that the rope was also connected to other debris in the river. <\/p>\n As the tree was lifted, the rope anchoring the base of the tree caused it to whip around sharply, Coroner Steel said.<\/p>\n Despite attempts to restrict the tree\u2019s movement, he could not control it. <\/p>\n Marlene Lines said she was \u201ctalking and laughing\u201d with her husband on the riverbank when she suddenly saw the tree coming towards them.<\/p>\n She said they only had time to take a couple of steps backwards before the tree struck her husband in the head, and her in the legs.<\/p>\n Coroner Steel said Marlene Lines immediately went to her husband\u2019s aid, but he was unresponsive.<\/p>\n Resuscitation was attempted until emergency services<\/a> arrived, but Lines could not be revived, Coroner Steel said.<\/p>\n Lines, a grandfather to eight and great-grandfather to two, died a month short of his 68th birthday.<\/p>\n