Coroner orders inquest to be held into Gore toddler Lachlan Jones' death

Wednesday, 30 August 2023

Three-year-old Lachlan Jones drowned in the Gore District Council's wastewater ponds in January 2019. An inquest will now be held into his death.

An inquest will be held into the death of three-year-old Lachlan Jones, who was found dead in an oxidation pond in Gore.

The news came as a great relief to his father, Paul Jones, who had spent more than four years fighting for an inquest, after he disputed the findings of two police investigations which determined that there was no evidence of neglect or criminal liability in relation to Lachlan’s death.

“I hope it will bring out all the facts of what happened, and finally the truth,’’ he said.

“This will be the most important three weeks of my life. I’ve spent more than four years waiting for this and I’m absolutely exhausted, but I’m finally feeling a bit more positive.’’

The court memorandum, known as a minute, stated Lachlan’s body was found late on the evening of January 29, 2019 face down in a council oxidation pond about 1km from his home. He had been in the care of his mother Michelle, who had reported him missing earlier that evening.

The pathologist conducted a post-mortem examination and determined that Lachlan died from drowning, it said.

Southland dad Paul Jones says he’s relieved an inquest will be held into the death of his three-year-old son Lachlan. (File photo)

Coroner Ho issued the minute on August 25 ordering the inquest, which will be held in Invercargill lasting for about three weeks.

A site visit to the oxidation ponds will also take place in January.

It lists nine people, whose names are redacted, who will be afforded ‘’interested party’’ status at the inquest, and a further 26 witnesses, whose names are also redacted, will also be called to give evidence.

Lachlan Jones was found at the Gore District Council oxidation ponds.

The minute said the issues for the inquest would include whether the pathologist was correct to conclude that Lachlan died from drowning, the circumstances that led to Lachlan being found in the pond, whether other individuals were involved in Lachlan’s death and whether the circumstances of his death included neglect.

The minute said Jones had obtained expert reports from Dr Alexander Kolar, a forensic pathologist, who said that there was insufficient pathological evidence to support the pathologist's conclusion that Lachlan died from drowning; and Karen Smith, a retired United States crime scene investigator, identifying what she considered to be deficiencies in the police investigations and advancing a hypothesis that other individuals had greater involvement in Lachlan’s disappearance than police investigations concluded.

The minute said the adequacy of the New Zealand Police’s investigations into Lachlan’s death was not in itself a focus of the inquest because those investigations, by definition, occurred after the death and did not form part of the circumstances of the death.

However, questions had been raised about the investigative steps taken or omitted by police, and it appears in determining the circumstances of Lachlan’s death that the Coroner’s assessment of the quality of the evidence, and possible further inquiries, will to some extent require him to consider the criticisms of the investigation that have been made, the minute said.

Last week police acknowledged “steps were missed' in the early stages of the investigation into Lachlan’s death.

Southern Police district commander Paul Basham has requested a national investigations overview of police’s handling of the investigation into the death, and self-referred the matter to the IPCA to ensure an independent process was also carried out.

*An earlier version of the story said the inquest would be held in January. The coroner may visit the pond site in January but no date for the inquest has been set.