• Kevin Andrew McQuire was sentenced to six months of community detention for the deaths of Gemma Ferregel and her son Ryder. 
• McQuire’s boat capsized on Manukau Harbour; no lifejackets were worn, and he failed to check the weather. 
• Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith emphasised the need for skippers to prioritise safety and avoid a “she’ll be right” attitude. 

An experienced but “ill-prepared” skipper whose boat capsized on Manukau Harbour, resulting in the death of his partner and her 10-year-old son, sat in a High Court at Auckland dock today as members of the victims’ family wondered aloud how he could have been so irresponsible. 

“You consider yourself a smart man, but that would have to be one of the dumbest decisions you have ever made,” Newton Ferregel, the boy’s father, said in a written victim impact statement directed at double-manslaughter convict Kevin Andrew McQuire. “And now you will have to live with that for the rest of your life.” 

Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith later sentenced McQuire, 64, to six months of community detention with electronic monitoring and a 7pm to 7am daily curfew. He was also ordered to continue supervision for a further six months and to pay $15,000 in emotional harm reparation to the victims’ family. 

Although manslaughter carries a maximum possible sentence of life, the judge had made it clear before his guilty pleas were entered that she wouldn’t be considering a prison term. 

While he failed in his obligations as skipper, “there were many points during this incident where bad luck came into play”, the judge noted. But it’s also important the sentence have have a punitive element, she said, adding that she hopes other “old school” skippers with a “she’ll be right attitude” read about the tragedy and McQuire’s mistakes ahead of their own excursions this summer. 

Gemma Karen Ferregel and her 10-year-old son, Ryder, drowned when their boat capsized in Manukau Harbour; Ryder’s body was never recovered. Composite image / NZME/Supplied 

Gemma Ferregel, 38, and son Ryder died on November 6 in 2022 after McQuire’s 4.8-metre boat capsized during a scalloping trip. They had clung to the hull for several hours but abandoned the boat after drifting to a sandbar. 

Details of the tragedy off Clarks Beach were made public in September after McQuire pleaded guilty to the two manslaughter charges. 

None of the five people on board were wearing a lifejacket when the boat tipped over. 

Court documents show that McQuire had not checked the weather forecast that day, had no functioning radio on the boat, and there were not enough lifejackets for everyone on board. All of the adults on the boat had been drinking alcohol but none were intoxicated. 

Hours in the water 

According to the summary of facts, McQuire was an experienced skipper and had owned the Haines Signature boat, called “Deez Nuts”, for 10 years. But the boat had gone “considerably off course” after he allowed Ryder to steer it with the scalloping net out. 

McQuire took over the controls, opened the throttle of the motor and tried to bring the vessel back on course in winds gusting to 20 to 25 knots and waves of up to a metre. 

Kevin McQuire appears in the High Court at Auckland to be sentenced for the manslaughters of partner Gemma Ferregel and her 10-year-old son, Ryder, following a November 2022 boating accident. Photo / Mike Scott. 

Two waves then struck the boat and it capsized, throwing all of the occupants into the water. 

He had earlier observed the weather and tidal conditions from the deck of his property about 2km from the Te Toro Reserve boat ramp, where he launched the boat, and the sea appeared calm. But he did not check the weather by any other means, including the MetService marine forecast. The forecast was for northeasterly winds of 10 to 15 knots and a slight sea, but choppy conditions when the wind opposed the tide. 

Ryder had been wearing a lifejacket earlier in the trip but it was badly fitted and riding up, so he asked his mother to take it off. 

After the vessel capsized, Ryder was initially trapped under the boat, but was rescued by another of the occupants, who swam under to retrieve him. 

The group of two men, two women and Ryder were unable to right the boat, and could not call for help because there was no working radio and their cellphones were submerged within the vessel. The marine radio fitted to the boat had not worked in all of the 10 years that McQuire had owned it. 

The group managed to hang on to the vessel for four to five hours before two of the party, a man and a woman, decided to swim to shore to raise the alarm. It took them two and a half hours to do so. 

McQuire, Gemma Ferregel and Ryder remained with the boat before McQuire realised that they were on a sandbar and he could touch the bottom. 

Ryder Ferregel was a talented motocross rider. Photo / Supplied 

They decided to walk along the sandbar, initially towing the boat until it became stuck and was left behind. 

The two adults continued walking along the sandbar with Ryder being carried on McQuire’s back. 

“Of all the decisions you made that day, I imagine that’s the one you regret the most,” Justice Wilkinson-Smith said today. 

The sandbar ended abruptly and all three found themselves back in deep water. They attempted to swim back on to the sandbar but were unable to do so. McQuire said he tried to swim to the sea floor to hoist up his partner so she could hold her son, but that effort too was unsucessful. 

“Both Gemma and Ryder were unable to stay afloat and subsequently drowned,” the summary said. 

McQuire was able to tread water for about another 30 minutes before he was found and rescued by the Police Air Support Unit and Coastguard. 

Gemma Ferregel was recovered from the water and attempts were made to resuscitate her without success. Ryder’s body was never found despite an extensive 15-day search operation. 

‘Lack of common sense’ 

Under maritime laws and regulations, the skipper is legally responsible for the safety of everyone on board a boat. 

It was his responsibility to make sure that the weather conditions were adequate, that the boat had adequate forms of communication and that everyone aboard wore a lifejacket. 

“I was so angry at you, Kevin - you should have never let this happen,” Gemma Ferregel’s mother said during her victim impact statement “You should have never gone out in the first place. You had their lives in your hands... 

“You took away two beautiful lives that day ... because of your lack of common sense and responsibility for your safety.” 

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.