Lachlan Jones. Photo: Supplied via NZ Herald
- The coroner overseeing an inquest into Lachlan Jones' death is being urged to recommend the police reinvestigate what happened
- 3-year-old Lachlan Jones was discovered unresponsive in the Gore sewage oxidation pond in January 2019
- Two police investigations found the boy accidentally drowned but lawyer for father Paul Jones says they were entirely inadequate and need to be redone with new, fresh eyes
- Lawyers for police and his mother Michelle Officer say it is a tragedy but the evidence supports a conclusion of accidental drowning
The father of Lachlan Jones says fighting for answers about how his son died has taken a huge toll, while his lawyer is calling for police to reinvestigate what happened.
It has been more than five years since the 3-year-old boy was found unresponsive in a Gore sewage oxidation pond.
The inquest into his death, which has often been emotionally charged, ended in Invercargill on Thursday with closing remarks from lawyers representing his father, mother, police, the coroner and other witnesses.
Paul Jones, Lachlan's father, spoke at the hearing, saying he had been fighting for justice for his son after being failed by police investigations and a medical examination.
"The financial burden of the last five years has put me into debt probably for the rest of my life. My health and emotional wellbeing has suffered hugely," Jones said.
"As a proud dad of Lachlan, I now spend all of his birthdays and Christmases at a headstone."
Paul Jones reads his victim impact statement. Photo: Stuff / Robyn Edie
In a statement read out by her lawyer, mother Michelle Officer said her whole world was shattered on the night her loving boy died.
"Words can not express our grief and loss over losing my son and our brother," she said.
"We treasure the memories that we have had with Lachie. They are most sacred and private to us."
She thanked those involved trying to find answers about his death and said the family wanted to grieve in private.
Paul Jones' lawyer, Max Simpkins, said the investigations by police were entirely inadequate and medical staff did not properly examine his body.
He asked the coroner to recommend police reinvestigate his death with fresh eyes, saying there was not enough evidence to support a conclusion of accidental drowning.
His lungs were not water logged, the water was shallow enough that he should have been able to self recover if he fell in, and there were no abrasions on his feet and hands to suggest he struggled, Simpkins said.
He reaired allegations of body dumping and neglect and questioned the reliability of multiple witnesses, saying that they needed to be explored further.
Coroner Alexander Ho. Photo: Stuff / Robyn Edie
Lawyer for police, Robin Bates, disagreed, saying that evidence pointed to a tragic but accidental drowning with witnesses recalling seeing a boy in high vis - a favourite vest of Lachlan - around the time he went missing.
He acknowledged police had "some shortcoming in procedures at time" but work had been done to rectify them and more work was ongoing.
He called into question the testimony of retired Florida crime scene investigator Karen Smith, saying she did not hear directly from the witnesses, had time rather than unique skill to examine the information, and she took totally the wrong approach to circumstantial evidence.
Officer's lawyer, Beatrix Woodhouse, said the evidence spoke for itself and clearly showed the accidental drowning of a "dearly loved" boy.
Multiple witnesses described an "incredibly distraught" mum who was frantically searching for her missing boy only to collapse and wail when she found out he was dead, Woodhouse said.
The lawyer for the pathologist who conducted his autopsy, Adam Holloway, said there was no persuasive evidence that made drowning an unavailable conclusion or anyone else was involved and drowning was consistent with what could be seen.
Coroner Alexander Ho reserved his finding, saying Lachlan's death was a tragedy.
He did not give a timeframe for when he would release his findings as there were more than 1000 pages of transcripts to go through and the evidence bundle was more than 2000 pages long, he said.
"I can only promise that I will work as hard as I can with the evidence that has been given to try and cast some light into the shadows that exist about what happened to Lachie that day and that the work for Lachie continues."
