The cause of death for the Canadian tourist who died on K’gari in January has been revealed.
A coroner has ruled that 19-year-old Piper James died from drowning after a pack of dingoes surrounded her and attacked her.
On the morning of January 20, Piper, who had been working on the island, told her friends she was heading to the beach for an early morning swim.
An hour later, a passing 4WD motorist discovered her body surrounded by dingoes near the island’s popular tourist site, the SS Maheno wreck.
The preliminary autopsy revealed there were dingo bites on the teenager’s body, but drowning was the most likely cause of the death, the coroner said as she handed down her official cause of death on Friday.
“The Coroners Court of Queensland advises that the results of Piper’s cause of death have now been determined by the assigned Queensland Health forensic pathologist and has been accepted by the investigating coroner,” a spokesperson said.
“Piper died as a result of drowning in the setting of multiple injuries, due to, or as a consequence of a dingo attack.”
“The investigation into Piper’s death is ongoing, and no further information can be provided at this time.”
Piper’s parents, Todd and Angela James, recently travelled to Australia to retrieve their daughter’s body and return it to their hometown, Campbell River, which is about 200km north-west of Vancouver in Canada.
The 19-year-old, who was Todd and Angela’s only child, was laid to rest in Campbell River last weekend.
The couple has asked for there to be a full review into the information provided to locals and tourists about the possibility of dingo attacks. According to Piper’s parents, there was a heightened risk of attacks on the day Piper was attacked, but the teenager and her friends weren’t aware of that.
“It breaks my heart we couldn’t be there to save her,” Angela recently told the ABC.
“It hurts my heart to think she was screaming for me,” Todd added. “It’s hard to imagine what our baby went through.”
The Jameses said Piper wouldn’t want to see more dingoes culled, but they’re hoping the inquest into her death will help prevent other parents from going through what they’ve been through.
“I’m hoping that with this inquest, it’ll show where some things possibly could be changed … so there doesn’t have to be another incident like Piper passing away,” Todd said.
