In a strange twist of events, a woman has been charged over the death of a Taranaki man five years after it was ruled accidental.
Both the police and a coroner had examined 48-year-old Bruce Mouat's death and found no evidence of foul play.
However a Napier woman appeared in Hastings District Court last week, charged with manslaughter over Mouat's death by an unlawful act at his home on July 2011.
Coroner Tim Scott in February 2012 had ruled the mountaineer and leader of the Taranaki Alpine and Cliff Rescue team died of blunt force to the head after he fell on the steps outside his house and hit his head on a concrete paver.
The death followed an evening of heavy drinking.
Mouat died 11 days later in Wellington Hospital.
The woman will reappear in court next month. She has been granted interim name suppression.
Newshub.
