Coroner to deliver findings on Lachlan Jones' death

RNZ News

a day ago

Three-and-a-half year old Lachie Jones was found dead in the Gore oxidation ponds back in January 2019.
Photo:
Supplied via NZ Herald
A coroner will today deliver his findings into the death of Gore pre-schooler Lachlan Jones six years after he was found dead in a council sewage pond.
An often emotionally-charged inquest into the three-year-old's death was held in Invercargill with accusations of body-dumping, fake alibis and neglect aired during witness testimonies.
The hearing followed two police investigations that found Lachlan accidentally drowned after wandering off, although his father Paul Jones disputed the findings.
Coroner Alexander Ho would deliver his findings in Invercargill on Friday in an effort to cast some light on the shadows surrounding the boy's death.
In a minute released in May, the coroner acknowledged there were significant and extensive allegations, rumours, suspicion and public concern around Lachlan's death.
He said it was in the interest of justice to narrow them down and provide certainty where possible, including vindicating the reputations of people under scrutiny if the evidence supported it.
The coroner completed his 160-page draft findings in April but sought further submissions in May, delaying the delivery of his findings.
Friday's hearing was expected to take a full day while the coroner read his findings and discussed any suppression matters.
Media would not be allowed to publish the findings until the coroner gave the green light, which was expected once he retired at the end of the day.
Coroner Alexander Ho at the inquest into the death of Lachlan Paul Graham Jones on 29 April, 2024.
Photo:
Stuff / Robyn Edie
The coroner was considering whether a pathologist was right to conclude Lachlan died from drowning, what led to him being found in the pond - including if neglect was involved - whether the evidence supported his father's allegations and if anyone else was involved in the boy's death.
He would also consider whether further steps could be taken to yield more evidence if what was currently available was not enough to answer his questions.
He would also make any recommendations to reduce the chance of similar deaths in future.
The adequacy of police investigations was not a focus of the inquest because they were carried out after Lachlan's death but coroner Ho said he might need to consider some of the criticisms.
The inquest was split in two parts, involving witness and expert evidence.
During
Paul Jones' testimony last year
, he described the investigations as "like a bloody botched up police job and you're trying to fix it".
"I don't know what's happened on this day. I don't know how my son got out there. I'm here to find the answers," he said.
His lawyer accused Lachlan's mother Michelle Officer and her two older sons of killing the boy and storing his body in a freezer before dumping it and devising fake alibis, as well as neglecting her son.
In court, Jones said he had never claimed Officer had killed Lachlan.
"There was [Michelle's two older sons] Cameron, Johnny there and Michelle. I want to know what happened," he said.
Paul Jones in the witness stand of the Invercargill Courthouse on 8 May, 2024, for the coronial inquest into Lachlan Jones' death.
Photo:
Stuff / Robyn Edie
Officer said the accusations were untrue
, rather Jones was abusive and manipulative, she loved her son and she consented to an autopsy of Lachlan's body because she had nothing to hide.
"He was my world. I just loved him so much. I just wish I was with him," she told the inquest.
"I'd rather drown myself than have any of my boys drown."
The
brothers also denied the accusations
, with Jonathan Scott saying he was at work that afternoon. He said Paul Jones was verbally abusive.
"I think it's disgusting because I love my little brother," Scott said.
Scott told the inquest that he briefly left the search to buy marijuana but he was not initially concerned by Lachlan's disappearance because he often hid in the house.
The pathologist who determined Lachlan died from drowning told the inquest he was
reluctant to perform his autopsy
because Southland was not set up to examine children and he did not routinely perform post-mortems on children.
He said he did not see any signs that the boy had been put in a freezer,
found nothing suspicious
and stood by his findings.
A forensic pathologist told the coroner that a forensic autopsy should have taken place but even without one, there was
enough evidence to safely conclude Lachlan drowned
.
The inquest also
heard from a neighbour
who said she heard the boy in her washroom on the night, while another resident described seeing a little person running in the direction of the ponds.
09052024. Robyn Edie. News. Southland Times/Stuff.
Lawyers in the Invercargill Courthouse on Thursday for week 2 of the coronial inquest into Lachie Jones death, on 29th January 2019.
Lawyers from left, Susan Hughes KC, Robin Bates in back, Max Simpkins, standing is Simon Mount KC, Alysia Gordon and Beatrix Woodhouse. Coroner Alexander Ho in back.
Photo:
Stuff / Robyn Edie
A Gore woman said a
friend claimed Scott told him he threw Lachlan
in the sewage pond where he was later found dead.
The friend later said there was no truth in what he had said to her and Scott denied he would joke about Lachlan's death, saying allegations against his family had been debunked.
Retired American crime scene investigator Karen Smith
took aim at police officers' testimony
and witness evidence, asking why police appeared to refuse to put in the effort to answer the remaining questions about his death.
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