Death of stowaway twin Joanne Ingham ruled natural causes

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Joanne Ingham leaves court in Takapuna in Auckland in 1998.

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The death of stowaway twin Joanne Ingham, who died in a Wellington emergency housing complex in 2022, has been ruled as due to natural causes.

Ingham and her twin sister Sarah made international headlines in 1997 when they swam to Australia after jumping from a Malaysian container ship they had stowed away on.

The 43-year-old was found unresponsive in the toilet area of a motel unit at Harbour City Motor Inn on June 7 2022.

Ingham shared the unit with partner Isaac Walker.

Coroner Tracey Fitzgibbon said the pair had a documented history of physical abuse, which in conjunction with a preliminary scene examination led the police to initially suspect unnatural causes.

However after a through investigation no charges were laid.

Pathologist Dr Michael Arendse examined the body in situ and conducted a full post-mortem at the Wellington Hospital mortuary. He concluded cause of death was from hypovolemic shock due to rupture of splenic artery aneurysm.

Fitzgibbon said Arendse had observed multiple bruises and scars of different ages on the right and left sides of Ingham's face, anterior neck, right arm, left flank, right hip, left buttock and legs, but that it was unclear whether or not there was a causal link between one or more of the bruises and the rupture of the splenic artery aneurysm.

"He specifically advises it is impossible to ascribe a direct link between a particular bruise and the ruptured splenic artery aneurysm."

Fitzgibbon said Arendse estimated some of the bruises were under 24 hours in age, but most were older.

Arendse also identified Ingham as having a history of chronic alcoholism, with an ESR toxicology report showing high levels of blood alcohol with 381mg per 100ml of blood.

The legal driving limit over the age of 20 is 250 mcg of alcohol per litre of breath, or more than 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.

"Some if not all bruises may be ascribed to Joanne having an unsteady gait secondary to alcoholism, recording however this is impossible to determine," the report said.

Fitzgibbon concluded she was satisfied Ingham had likely died on or about 7 June 2022.

Joanne and Sarah Ingham became household names at the age of 18 after jumping off a container ship with a Malaysian sailor into shark- and crocodile-infested waters off the coast of Queensland, and surviving two weeks in the wilderness.

The pair were interviewed by Paul Holmes and made international headlines.

Two years later they moved to Malaysia where Sarah married the sailor, Ja'afar bin Mohamed Zan, while Joanne is reported to have married his best friend in a shared ceremony.

Around 2003 it was understood the twins returned to New Zealand for a holiday, and then stayed.

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