Lachie Jones inquest: Who saw Lachie on the day he died?

Saturday, 25 May 2024

Who saw Lachie Jones on the day he died?

Early morning

Paul Jones at the site where his three-year-old son Lachie was found at the Gore waste water ponds.

Paul Jones had stayed the night at Michelle Officer’s house and had shared her bed with Lachie, while she slept on the couch. In his evidence, he said Officer cooked him some eggs and gave him a kiss goodbye when he left. Jones said Lachie had woken up that morning and asked if he could go and live in a motel with his dad. That was the last time he saw Lachie alive. Officer said Lachie slept in longer than normal.

Daytime

Lachie’s half brother, Cameron Scott, gave evidence at the inquest that he was at work as an apprentice electrician at the Danone plant near Balclutha.

Paul Jones speaks about the police handling of the case of his son Lachie's death.

Sequoia Barrow, who was Cameron’s girlfriend at the time, said she could not remember where she was that day, or whether she saw Lachie. Lachie’s other brother, Jonathan, said he was in bed until about 2pm.

Neighbour Debbie Thurston said she was at Slope Point where a marine search was under way for a family member who had been swept off rocks while fishing, and got home before 6pm. Her son, Jade Vigers, said he could not remember what he was doing that day.

Kindy

Officer says she, Lachie and Jonathan went to Paper Plus on Irk St before going to work. (File photo)

Lachie was at Gore Preschool during the day. Officer said she couldn’t remember what time she picked Lachie up but the kindy would have a record of it. He usually attended from 10:30am to 2:30pm. Under cross examination, she said Lachie had locked himself in the car to play a game with her but she had a magnetic key so she could get into the vehicle. She was not upset about it, she said.

Home

Former Gore District Council dog ranger David McKewen leaving the Invercargill courthouse during the coronial inquest.

After returning home from kindy, Officer said she was at home with Lachie and Jonathan until 3:20pm when she had to take Jonathan to work.

Michelle Officer says she was at work at a courier depot in Gore during the afternoon and had Lachie with her. Paul Jones said he did not see Lachie there. There are now CCTV cameras in the building, but there were not at the time, he said.

Jonathan said he got out of bed at about 2pm and made himself lunch. Officer gave evidence that they went to Paper Plus in Gore to pick up Jonathan’s school books. It is unclear whether police verified that visit.

The paddock

Gore police senior sergeant Cynthia Fairley gives witness evidence during the inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

Dave McKewen, who was a dog ranger for the Gore District Council at the time, said he saw three people in a paddock next to the ponds at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. They were 200m to 300m away from him. One person was small, quite young, and wearing a hi-vis vest, he said. He said he did not tell police about the sighting because it was council policy that staff did not talk to police, but this is refuted by former chief executive Stephen Parry.

Work

Officer said she took Lachie to the Gore NZ Couriers depot after she dropped Jonathan off at work at 3:20pm. She said she closed the roller door down and Lachie played with toys while she worked.

She gave evidence that she usually did this job while Lachie was at kindy but said she was ‘’running late’’ that day. She said Jones called in and during the conversation said he could not visit Lachie that night because he was getting a haircut in Invercargill.

Michelle Officer said she, son Jonathan and Lachie went to Countdown on the way home from work, but police did not check CCTV footage.

Jones said he did not see Lachie either at the depot or in Officer’s car, and said she told him he had a runny nose at kindy, was tired and hot, and she was going to let him have a sleep.

Jonathan said he started work at Ewan Allan Honda at 3:20pm. In court, he produced a hand-written page from a notebook detailing his hours for that day.

Under cross-examination, he admitted the page could have been produced at any time, and had not been verified by other staff.

Police had not checked Jonathan’s hours with the shop. On the last day of the inquest, workshop foreman Vaughan Wilson gave evidence that there was nothing to suggest that the information recorded by Scott was incorrect.

Deborah (Debbie) Thurston arriving at the Invercargill courthouse to give evidence at the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

Supermarket

Salford St in Gore, where neighbours searched for Lachie.

Officer said she, Jonathan and Lachie went to Countdown on the way home from the depot. Officer said she drove around the carpark but could not find a park, so left. Scott said they ‘’might have stopped past the grocery store’’. In her evidence, Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley said she was not sure if CCTV footage at the shop was checked, and if it was not, she didnt know why.

Home

After arriving home, Officer says she spent about 45 minutes getting a ‘pineapple sprinkler’ to work in the back yard for Lachie. She went inside where she says Lachie was with his toys. She went and picked up a pizza, leaving Jonathan to watch him in the lounge area. When she returned she said she gave some pizza to Lachie. She gave evidence that he wanted to be breast fed but she wanted to clean up his face. He then ran away from a changing pad, playing a hiding game. She put on the television to give him a break from changing his nappy, then went to help Jonathan with his weights.

Former police Sergeant Hua Tamariki on the witness stand in the Invercargill Courthouse during the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

Jonathan said he helped with the sprinkler, but could not remember if it was fixed, then looked after Lachie while his mother went and got pizza. He can’t remember exactly what they did, but said it was most likely he took Lachie into his bedroom and gave him the controller for his gaming console, he said. At 8pm he went and did his workout and Officer helped him for about five minutes at the end of it. Officer said when she went back to the kitchen, she said she saw a hi-vis vest outside the kitchen window and realised Lachie was missing. She gave evidence that she had left the gate open and had not snibbed the door closed like she usually did. Lachie’s body was found in a waste water pond about 1.2km from his home at 11:15pm by a dog handler.

Debbie Thurston’s house

Officer said when Lachie ran away the first time she caught up with him at neighbour Debbie Thurston’s house, further down Salford St. She said Lachie was in the laundry and when she took her eye off him for about 30 seconds he ran away. Thurston gave evidence that she only heard Lachie in her house but did not see him. Both began searching for the toddler. Officer called police at 9:36pm.

Salford St

Maxine Cartwright, who was 14 at the time, told police on the night Lachie died that she saw him walk past when she was visiting her neighbour’s house, and had then seen him on the corner of Salford St and Grasslands Rd.

While giving evidence at the inquest she said she could not be sure it was Lachie and had initially thought the child she saw was another neighbour.

She had said she saw the toddler at 8:30pm, but former police Sergeant Hua Tamariki wrote in police paperwork that it ‘’would have been daylight savings sometimes phone would have been out by an hour’’.

While giving evidence , he said he did not check the phone and admitted that it would have been unusual for it not to adjust for daylight saving.

Ken Merrett said he was sitting inside when his daughters, who were outside, told him a ‘’wee boy in police helmet and hi-vis vest’’ had walked past his home. He did not think anything of it, and could not say it was Lachie.

Marshall Clearwater, who was 14 on the night Lachie died, told police that he saw a small boy run past the house to Grasslands Rd, who was wearing a hi-vis vest. He did not know at the time whether it was Lachie.

The inquest resumes in August before Coroner Alexander Ho, when expert witnesses will give their evidence.