Lachie Jones inquest: Ambulance officer, funeral directors and police officer give evidence

Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Police start to give witness evidence at Lachie Jones inquest

A police officer who had only been on the force for 10 months said she had no experience with deceased bodies when she was told to assist removing clothing from Lachie Jones at a funeral home.

Constable Rachel Lean gave evidence at an inquest into Lachie’s death on Tuesday morning. Lachie was three-years-old when he was found dead late on the evening of January 29, 2019, face up in a council oxidation pond near his home.

Lean said she had been tasked to accompany Lachie’s body to Gore’s St John Ambulance station, and then to the Southern Funeral Home, by former Sergeant Hua Tamariki.

She was assisted by Constable Jacqui Fairbairn, who gave evidence on Friday last week and on Monday morning.

Lean said she removed clothing for it to be photographed and assisted for photographs to be taken of Lachie’s body.

In response to questioning from police lawyer Robin Bates, Lean said she did not recall who took the photographs and did not recall ‘’vividly in my mind’’ helping to move Lachie’s body for them to be taken.

Police Constable Rachel Lean in the witness stand of the Invercargill Courthouse on Tuesday for week three of the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

She told Simon Mount KC, who is assisting Coroner Ho, that she helped to remove a nappy from the body that was ‘’very soiled’’ but she could not recall whether it was heavy or waterlogged.

Earlier in the morning, St John Ambulance emergency medical technician Bernie Varaine said they had been called out at 11:17pm on the night Lachie died and had noted that Lachie’s body was ‘’cold to the touch and wet’’ in the back of the ambulance.

Bernie Varaine of St John Ambulance in the witness stand of the Invercargill Courthouse on Tuesday for week three of the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

Max Simpkins, the lawyer acting for Lachie’s father Paul Jones, asked whether, in Varaine’s experience, the body was colder than he would have expected for a body that had been removed from the water.

Varaine replied that it would depend on the temperature of the ponds and how long Lachie had been in there.

Bates asked whether there was anything about the body that suggested it had been in a freezer.

Funeral director Kevin Hammond in the witness stand of the Invercargill Courthouse on Tuesday duriong week three of the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

Veraine said they had no idea what a body in a freezer would look like. A thermometer recorded Lachie’s temperature as “low” which he thought was below 32 degrees but it depended on the thermometer.

Veraine had noted there was nothing inconsistent for a body coming out of the water, and no sign of rigor mortis. The body had been ‘’floppy’’, they said.

Funeral directors Elizabeth Dennis and Kevin Hammond also gave evidence on Tuesday morning.

Elizabeth Dennis in the witness stand of the Invercargill Courthouse on Tuesday duringweek three of the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

Hammond noted at the first meeting of the families to discuss funeral arrangements, Lachie’s mother Michelle Officer had embraced Paul Jones and told him she loved him, but there appeared to be some animosity between their respective parents.

Both Dennis and Hammond said there had been some disagreement about Lachie’s body being taken to Officer’s home but Jones later agreed to it.

Both had noted Lachie’s body was in ‘’perfect’’ condition with no marks on it, and both gave evidence that Jones had visited the funeral home and asked to view Lachie’s feet and legs to see if there were any marks on them.