A Tauranga funeral home convicted of illegal discharges of cremation smoke, which sickened and traumatised neighbours over the “dead bodies over our property”, will have to pay $85,000.

The funeral home says it is disappointed to have fallen short, but the judge in the case says it has not apologised to its neighbours.

In sentencing notes released yesterday, Judge David Kirkpatrick fined Legacy Funeral Homes $70,000 for breaching resource consent conditions and ordered it to pay $15,000 in reparation to its victims for emotional harm.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council prosecution related to five illegal discharges of cremation smoke from Legacy’s Pyes Pa Rd crematorium between December 11, 2021, and April 4, 2022.

The council issued an abatement notice on December 10, 2021.

Legacy pleaded guilty to the charges.

The crematorium is near four properties, with dwellings within 20 to 50 metres, the regional council’s summary of facts said.

The cremation smoke comprised of particulates, metals, gases and/or odours.

The discharges were not allowed by a national environmental standard or other regulations, a rule in a regional plan or a resource consent, and also contravened the Resource Management Act.

Legacy Funeral Homes has been fined $85,000 in the Environment Court. Photo / Alex Cairns

At a sentencing hearing last month, Kelsey Dew and husband Matt Bear read victim impact statements, saying their home of 22 years felt like a prison, with memories “overshadowed by stress and despair”.

Dew said the “shocking and disturbing” offending triggered debilitating panic attacks after thick black smoke “consumed her body”, invaded their home and made her feel sick.

“I’ve struggled to come to terms with our grim reality, dead bodies over our property,” she said.

Dew said despite complaints about the malfunctioning cremator, Legacy’s company directors had shown “little compassion” for the harm caused.

Bear said: “No words can describe how potentially terrifying it was to be personally enveloped by smoke and ashes of burned bodies, let alone our home… The smoke and ash invaded my lungs, my body. I’m still trying to accept this.

“Had this been a one-time incident, maybe this could be forgiven, but we were forced to abandon our home on multiple occasions. Our home and our property have been desecrated.”

Judge Kirkpatrick’s written sentencing decision noted the defendant had difficulties with operating the cremator, which still could not be operated.

He said the issue was not so much that the cremator malfunctioned, or that there were difficulties in getting assistance because of Covid-19 restrictions, “but that [the funeral home’s] response was not as immediate or as empathetic as it should have been given the nature of its discharge”.

“It knew that its activity was of concern to its neighbours for cultural reasons. I emphasise that this relates to all cultures of people living at Pyes Pā.

“Legacy let its neighbours down. Having acquired a rest home in a rural-residential area, it made the decision to establish a crematorium and mortuary on the same site. That choice carried an increased responsibility for ensuring that it could control the effects of those new activities.”

It was for those reasons Judge Kirkpatrick said Legacy’s culpability was “reasonably high”.

He said no transfer of money could fully address the effects the victims had endured.

Judge Kirkpatrick also noted there had been no offer of amends or apology by Legacy to its neighbours. The victim impact statements did not set out financial costs, but he said it was clear “that as well as elevated levels of emotional harm, there have been costs associated with counselling, cleaning properties and furnishings, losing a tenant, seeking legal advice and creating issues for staff and customers”.

Legacy Funerals director Glenn Dougal yesterday said it sought expert advice to identify the cause of smoke and to repair the cremator but did not prevent the offending incidents.

“When further smoking occurred, Legacy suspended its cremator operations in April 2022.”

Dougal said Legacy acknowledged the issues and was committed to ensuring its equipment was in “top working order” before considering starting cremation services.

“We want to ensure we comply with any regulations for running our cremator, and we are 100 per cent committed to getting it right before we consider getting our service back up and running for our community.

“Our business model is founded on doing good for our community, and we’re disappointed we’ve fallen short in this instance.”

Legacy Funerals has been using Tauranga City Council facilities for cremations since April 2022.

Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.

- Additional reporting Sandra Conchie