Criminal trial into White Island deaths hears evidence from volcano owners

The Auckland District Court trial over the deaths of 22 people on New Zealand’s White Island/Whakaari in December 2019 has heard from the one of the three brothers who own the island.

Peter Buttle, who owns the island along with his brothers Andrew and James, told the Court this week that they were not experts in volcanoes, and that the deadly eruption of 2019 had come as a shock.

Peter Buttle “what happened was a shock to everybody. It’s easy to look in hindsight, and I wish we knew and I wish we had the ability to have a bit of foresight, because what happened was a terrible disaster.

“We believe we had put in place everything that we could possible have put in place to ensure the operators operated safely, and we were very confident in the operators we have that they were extremely safety conscious.”

The trial has marked some of the first statements from the Buttle family, who have remained largely silent in the wake of the eruption and throughout the subsequent investigation. Over the past week, their testimony has been presented to the Court in the form of a lengthy audio interview recorded in 2020.

The Whakaari disaster killed 22 people and seriously injured another 25.

Andrew, James and Peter Buttle are the Directors of Whakaari Management Ltd, the company that owns the island. According to prosecutors, they made around $1 million a year from tourism to the island.

They, and several other companies responsible for visitors to the island, have been charged by WorkSafe NZ with failing to adequately ensure the health and safety of workers and other people. They have pleaded not guilty.

WorkSafe prosecutor Kristy McDonald KC said as she opened the trial that the brothers’ company “profited from every single tourist taken to Whakaari.”

One of only a few islands in New Zealand that are privately owned, the island was purchased by the Buttle’s father in 1936. Tours to the island began in the 1990s.

However, the brothers, who inherited the island from their father, told the Court they were “not volcanic experts”.

Peter Buttle explained to the Court “you never knew from one day to the next essentially what the status of the island was.”

On Friday, the brothers were asked by investigators whether they or their company “believe they owe a duty to the victims of the eruption”.

Peter Buttle responded “it’s an incredibly hard question to answer, because the scale of it was so horrific and it’s had such a wide impact on … the people who died and survivors and their families”, adding that the impact had been “unimaginable … and to know how to respond to that is just … I don’t know how to put it into words.”

His brother, Andrew noted “we’re incredibly mindful of the tragedy and its effects. It’s impacted us a lot in that regard”.

Following the tragedy, WorkSafe NZ prosecuted 13 parties, including a number of tourism operators. The charges were laid at the end of 2020 and initially every defendant entered a not guilty plea, but since then several have changed their plea and one had the charges dismissed.

According to New Zealand’s official earthquake monitoring body, GeoNet, explosive eruptions can happen with little or no warning on the island.

Three weeks before the eruption, Whakaari's alert level was upgraded from a level 1 to 2, advising of increased volcanic unrest. Level 2 is the highest alert level before an eruption takes place and indicates "moderate to heightened volcanic unrest" with the "potential for eruption hazards".

The trial continues on Monday.

Images: White Island from the air (top, credit: GeoNet) and a woman photographs White Island just moments after it erupted on Monday 9th December 2019 (below, credit: Twitter/Michael Schade).