Whakaari Management Limited has been found guilty of a health and safety charge relating to the 2019 Whakaari/White Island disaster.
Judge Evangelos Thomas delivered the verdict in the Auckland District Court on Tuesday afternoon, bringing to an end a four-month trial.
The charges against Whakaari Management, the holding company of owners Andrew, James and Peter Buttle, were 37.1 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 about "entering and exiting the workplace" or the alternative charge under 36.2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 where a business must ensure they aren't putting people at risk from their work. Both charges contain a fine of up to $1.5 million.
Whakaari Management was the only company still waiting for a verdict after six other parties pleaded guilty and six had charges dismissed.
On Tuesday, Judge Thomas found Whakaari Management guilty under charge 37.1.
Twenty-two people died and dozens were injured when the Whakaari/White Island volcano off the coast of Whakatāne erupted in December 2019. Forty-seven people, mostly tourists, were on the island at the time of the eruption.
WorkSafe originally charged 13 parties with failures under the Health and Safety at Work Act in 2020.
Whakaari was a popular tourist destination before the fatal eruption. WorkSafe's case was that Whakaari Management put profits ahead of safety. The company's lawyer argued it was the landowner, nothing more.
Last month, the charges against the individual owners of Whakaari White Island were dismissed because WorkSafe did not produce enough evidence about what happened behind the scenes between the individual directors.
The Buttle brothers were charged individually along with their company Whakaari Management Ltd (WML).
But Judge Thomas ruled there was not enough evidence "to continue with the charges at this stage" and dismissed the charges against the individual owners.
Three other parties - the government's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and travel agents ID Tours and Tauranga Tourism Services - have also had charges dismissed.
Six others have pleaded guilty, including White Island Tours, which was responsible for the majority of tourists on the island during the explosion.
The trial has been ongoing since July, which has heard from experts and survivors who were on the island when the volcano erupted.
One survivor told the court about the moment the eruption occurred and remembered thinking she could die on the island.
Another survivor recalled his "flesh burning" and receiving burns to 53 percent of his body.
Whakaari Management Limited will be sentenced in February 2024.
