Late-night drinking and skylarking turned to tragedy early yesterday when an Australian rugby league manager drowned after trying to take a dip in the Waitemata Harbour.
Detective Superintendent Peter Marshall said 35-year-old Michael Moore said, “Watch this” to 25 bar patrons just after 3 am, before walking across Princes Wharf and putting his hands on a wooden ledge. He then attempted to vault himself into the water.
Mr Marshall said Mr Moore, the father of three young children, presumably hit his head on a pontoon or something similar in what was “a one-off skylarking incident with tragic results.”
Television commentator Graeme Hughes, who witnessed the tragedy, said he had been sitting at the same table as Mr Moore and other members of the Melbourne Storm at Euro restaurant.
“He was passionate about rugby league and a really decent man. It makes the start of the football season seem so insignificant now.”
Several bystanders jumped into the water to try to rescue Mr Moore, but they could not find him.
His body was later recovered by Navy divers, 7m down.
Mr Moore’s father flew from Australia yesterday to make arrangements for the return of his son’s body.
Melbourne Storm management described the dead man as a “champion bloke,” a close friend, and a great staff member.
“Our heart goes out to his family, particularly his kids,” said club chief executive John Ribot.
Mr Marshall said inquiries indicated Mr Moore had been drinking and might have been intoxicated.
Police would investigate and could prosecute a licensed premises if there had been an offence under the Sale of Liquor Act.
Euro owner Leo Molloy said he was devastated by the accident.
He was told Mr Moore often pulled stunts, and his friends expected him to emerge from behind the wharf at any moment and laugh.
Mr Molloy said staff did not remember specifically serving Mr Moore, although they remembered serving others from the group he was with.
“We don’t serve drunk people. We are not that sort of establishment. In fact we have an aggressive policy on who we serve.”
Mr Molloy said that at the time of the tragedy Euro had already taken the last call for drinks. There was no evidence to suggest Mr Moore was intoxicated.
However, if the autopsy results showed he was drunk, Euro was prepared to be “held accountable, and quite rightly so.”
Mr Marshall said he was satisfied with the police presence and crowd behaviour at the Viaduct Harbour. Almost 3 million people had visited over recent months with few problems.
“It is hard to prevent a tragedy when somebody does something deliberate like that.”
