Two companies found to be responsible for a teenage window cleaner falling four storeys have been sentenced in Auckland District Court.
Louisa Kuypers, 18, plunged 30 metres while scaling an office building in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket last year.
The company she worked for - At Height Ltd - was today fined $9,000 while the company it contracted to - Building Wash Services - was fined more than $20,000.
Judge Emma Aitken said At Height Ltd was more responsible for the accident and originally allocated it a fine of more than $46,000.
However, the fine was discounted as Aitken said the fine would effectively bankrupt the company.
The 18-year-old made what doctors describe as a remarkable recovery after falling from the top of the Lion Breweries building.
An emergency department clinician who helped save Kuypers said he believes wearing a helmet "helped immensely".
Kuypers received compensation of $40,000 for the debilitating injuries she sustained during the fall.
"Anything's fine. I wasn't really expecting to see more than $5000 so I'm quite happy with it," she said outside court.
Kuypers said her fall was "just an accident".
"I was friends with all those guys and I didn't want to see them go down and I didn't want to see the company get hurt. In fact if I'd had it my way nothing would have happened.
She is aiming to train as a nurse.
Thrill-seeking teen
For the thrill-seeking teen abseil window-washing was a natural career choice and her father Gilbert Kuypers told ONE News she was so happy in the job she "would have done it almost for nothing".
But Kuypers worried about his daughter's safety.
"I just dropped her off before the accident and I said, you know, be careful. And she's 'oh yeah, always do that'. And all of a sudden, bang, you know, she's in hospital, and all we're looking at is just a nose and a pair of eyes sticking out of bandages."
He still wants answers about how the accident happened.