Yacht death: Police seek legal opinion

Police have asked their legal experts to decide if a man who died at a Christmas party on a luxury launch in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour was unlawfully killed.

Darren Perry Grace, 40, was with his partner Claire Tynan, at a company party aboard the launch Quest 2 on December 18 when he collapsed and died of asphyxiation.

Police treated his death as a homicide but have released few details of what he was doing just before he died or if he had taken drugs or alcohol.

Detective Senior Sergeant Kevin Hooper would not release details on what the toxicology report contained or talk about possible charges.

He said police were waiting on a legal opinion before deciding the next step.

"The legal opinion will give us an opinion on whether or not it has been a culpable homicide."

A culpable homicide is either murder or manslaughter but a non-culpable homicide is not an offence.

Several weeks after his death Ms Tynan said it was a "terrible, horrible accident" and nobody was to blame.

- NZPA