Mason Pendrous with his stepfather, Anthony Holland, who says he’s still “sucker punched” by the death of Pendrous three years on.
The stepfather of a student who lay dead in his university accommodation for up to a month says he hopes a review into a student’s death at another Canterbury university “sheds some light” for her family.
A student at Canterbury’s Lincoln University was found dead in the halls of residence on Monday, the first day of the second semester. The university had its mid-year break from June 27 to July 15.
The student’s death is not considered suspicious and will be referred to the coroner, a police spokesperson said. Police were unable to comment on how long she may have been dead before her body was found.
It’s believed the student was aged in her late teens and in her first year of study.
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The incident comes nearly three years after Mason Pendrous was found dead in his room at Sonoda Village at the University of Canterbury. The 19-year-old had been dead for up to a month when he was found.
Pendrous’ stepfather, Anthony Holland, told Stuff he was “shocked and stunned” when he heard about the Lincoln University student’s death.
“It’s brought it all back up for me to be honest.
“My heart goes out to her family because I know exactly how they’re feeling. It’s one of those conversations you never want to have with a policeman. I’d hoped no-one would ever have to go through what I went through again.”
ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff
A student was found dead on the first day of the second semester at Lincoln University.
A coroner was unable to determine exactly what caused Pendrous’ death and said he died sometime between August 26 and September 10. He was found on September 23.
Holland said it was hard not knowing more about his stepson’s death, but knows those involved “tried their hardest” to get answers.
He wants the family of the student to also get their questions answered.
“I hope the inquiry sheds some light for the family,” he said.
“It was a series of unfortunate events I suppose for Mason, I just hope for this young lady they get to the bottom of it.”
Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@stuff.co.nz
He understood why the university was limited in what it could say at this stage, pending the outcome of the police and coronial investigations.
Nearly three years on Holland said he’s still “sucker punched” by Pendrous’ death.
“He was my best mate. I think about him every day… I’ve got pictures of him all around the house.
“I’m sure this young lady and her family have got great memories and they need to hang on to those, just hang on to the good memories.”
tuff asked the university how long it had been since the university last spoke to the student and what processes were in place to check in on students during the holiday period.
Supplied
Mason Pendrous was dead for up to four weeks before he was found.
In response, Lincoln University vice-chancellor Professor Grant Edwards said the student’s death was under investigation by police, and they were therefore unable to provide any additional information at this stage.
“Findings from the investigation will help inform our own review, which has already begun.
“Lincoln University is a close-knit community, and we do everything we can to care for our students’ safety and wellbeing. We are continuing to support the grieving parents and family of the student.”
Lincoln University has seven fully-catered halls of residence, all owned and run by the university. Every hall has at least one residential assistant living on site.
In 2019 Education Minister Chris Hipkins introduced the Education Pastoral Care Amendment Bill following Pendrous’ death.
Eve McMahon, New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) deputy chief executive for quality assurance, said the authority was gathering information to understand what had occurred in relation to the death at Lincoln University, but had no concerns about the progress being made at universities in implementing the Pastoral Care Code.
“All eight universities are implementing the code in that they have completed gap analyses and identified some gaps in practice against the new requirements which they are working to close,” McMahon said.
“These relate to strengthening learner voice and a whole-of-provider approach to pastoral care – processes that by nature will take larger organisations more time to implement well and will likely be an area of continuous review and improvement.”
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