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A luxury charter vessel operator has been ordered to make an emotional harm payment of $140,000 after a 25-year-old mother of two fell to her death into the Waitematā Harbour during a staff party.

Zefiro Charters Ltd – the operator of Zefiro for 17 years – was sentenced today in the Auckland District Court for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 in relation to the death of Danielle Tamarua in 2021.

Tamarua, remembered as a talented young chef, was attending a staff party on the Zefiro for her hospitality company on April 1, 2021. They had spent several hours cruising around the Waitematā Harbour.

She was on the bow as it returned to the Viaduct Harbour in worsening weather, a contravention of the vessel’s Maritime Transport Operation Plan, but staff had not asked her or anyone else to move inside.

She lost her footing and went overboard and into the propeller, which severed her left leg just below the hip.

Danielle Tamarua, 25, died after falling from the Zefiro luxury charter yacht in Waitematā Harbour on April 1. She worked at the Auckland catering company LittleWolf. Photo / Facebook

Three men dived in to rescue her and return her to the ship but despite the efforts of a passenger, and later police staff and paramedics winched down to the vessel from a rescue helicopter, she could not be revived.

Maritime New Zealand’s general manager of investigations, Pete Dwen, said the company had policies and procedures in place to keep passengers safe while the vessel was under way.

“Tragically, these procedures were not followed on 1 April, 2021,” Dwen said.

He said all crew members are meant to know, understand and enforce health and safety procedures on a vessel.

“This should have been a fun day out on the water. This incident is a horrific example of what can go wrong when a company fails to ensure health and safety procedures are followed.

“If the prescribed health and safety procedures were followed, this incident would have likely been avoided,” Dwen said.

Danielle Tamarua was on a Zefiro Charters Limited boat at the time of the incident. Photo / Michael Craig

Judge Evangelos Thomas described Zefiro Charters Limited’s culpability as amounting to a “significant breach” and indicated he would have had no hesitation in imposing a significant fine in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

However, due to the limited financial means of Zefiro, he ordered the company to pay an emotional harm reparation of $140,000 to be apportioned between the victims.

The sentencing comes three months after the vessel’s skipper, 48-year-old Christopher Sherborne, was ordered to pay $4000 reparation to Tamarua’s partner after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Maritime Transport Act: causing or permitting an act that causes unnecessary danger or risk and operating a ship without the correct maritime documentation.

Both are punishable by up to 12 months imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.

Sherborne took full responsibility for his role in the incident as skipper and did not seek any of the discounts available at sentencing for his lack of previous convictions and taking responsibility at an early stage.

Judge Nevin Dawson ordered him to pay $3500 reparation on the first charge and $500 on the second to the woman’s partner.

Tamarua was described as a “talented young chef” and a “much-loved member” of the LittleWolf kitchen team. Photo / Facebook

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.