One of the people who took Iraena Asher in a few hours before she went missing is disappointed a coroner found their failure to call police contributed to her death.
Julia Woodhouse, her son Henry Woodhouse and her partner Bobbie Carroll picked up an upset Ms Asher soon after she called police saying she felt unsafe and pressured for sex about 10pm on October 10, 2004.
Ms Asher had spent the day at a Piha address consuming alcohol and cannabis and acting unusually, which Coroner Peter Ryan said could have been due to either the drugs or a manic episode brought on by her bipolar disorder.
After police arranged to call a taxi rather than a police car to attend to her - an action police have admitted was wrong - Ms Asher told the family that police weren't interested in her and became agitated at suggestions they be called again.
But while commending their actions of helping her, Mr Ryan said at the end of a three-day inquest in Auckland that the family's failure to contact police was a contributing factor to her death, saying an opportunity to help her had been missed.
"The lesson to be learned is that it's better to err on the side of caution and contact police and let them decide what intervention is warranted."
Ms Carroll said she understood their actions weren't being criticised but she still disagreed that their actions contributed to her death.
"We gave Iraena the last four hours of her life in a warm, cosy, safe, loving house, and we're very comfortable with that."
Ms Asher ran out of the house as everyone was preparing to go to sleep.
Mr Ryan also found the police decision to send a taxi, which never arrived, also contributed to her death.
Ms Asher was last seen in the early hours of October 11, naked under a street light by Piha beach by a local couple walking their dog.
"The most likely scenario appears to be that Iraena went into the water and was swept out to sea and drowned," the coroner said.
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