A Kāpiti Coast woman who died on a night out in Wellington had taken a lethal amount of illicit drugs, including MDMA and cocaine, a coroner has found.
Hoia Ann Mulligan, 57, known as Bella, died as a result of an accidental overdose, after taking a range of drugs while at a Christmas party with her husband and friends in Wellington.
Mulligan attended the party for her husband John's work on the evening of December 10, 2021, before continuing drinking at a bar.
Several hours later, she became unresponsive and was pronounced dead by paramedics.
A coroner's report released on Friday morning found Mulligan's death was deemed to be "acute mixed drug intoxication", with MDMA, cocaine and a synthetic cathinone, 3-methyl methcathinone, found in the post-mortem.
Leading up to her death, Mulligan's friends noticed she was intoxicated to the point where by 1am, she had deteriorated to the point where she couldn’t stand on her own and her speech was incoherent.
Despite concerns, the group opted not to call an ambulance and instead sent her to a friend's house - where she had planned on staying the night.
Over the next couple of hours, those who were with Mulligan, including her husband, reported she looked "spaced out" and "sweating a lot", the coroner's report said.
By 3:30am, Mulligan's husband reported she had stopped breathing. An ambulance was called and CPR commenced but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The coroner concluded Mulligan intentionally took the drugs, but she didn’t intend on taking an amount that would lead to her death.
A police investigation found there could be no criminal liability attributed to any person in her death.
