Lachie Jones inquest: US pathologist who helped during 9/11 gives evidence

Wednesday, 7 August 2024

Dr Judy Melinek giving evidence during the second hearing of a coronial inquest into the death of Lachlan Jones at the Invercargill District Court on Wednesday.

A forensic pathologist who was once tasked with identifying body parts after the 9/11 terrorist attack has concluded Lachie Jones drowned in a waste water pond in Gore.

However, she said the evidence does not rule out foul play, and much was made of foam found in the toddler’s mouth during her testimony.

Dr Judy Melinek gave evidence on the second day of the second sitting of the inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachie Jones, who was found dead late on the evening of January 29, 2019, face up in a council wastewater pond near his home in Gore.

Lawyer Adam Holloway , left, and Detective Inspector Stu Harvey arriving at the Invercargill courthouse on Wednesday, during the second hearing of the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

Lawyers Adam Holloway and Casey Williams, who are acting on behalf of the pathologist who carried out the autopsy on Lachie, requested her evidence.

Melinek said paramedics had mentioned a foamy substance coming from Lachie’s mouth during the time he was resuscitated, which would indicate he had drowned.

Hiwever, Simon Mount KC, who is acting for Coroner Alexander Ho, said the evidence given by one paramedic at the first hearing of the inquest in May said there was no foam during resuscitation, and the second did not recall any froth.

Mount said evidence from the police dog handler that found Lachie’s body said there was ‘’some foam around the mouth’’ which took a couple of seconds to wipe away before he began resuscitation.

Lawyer Max Simpkins at the Invercargill courthouse during the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

“That would be compatible with what I would expect to see in a drowning,’’ Melinek replied.

Paul Jones and his lawyer Max Simpkins arriving at the Invercargill courthouse, on Wednesday, during the second hearing of the coronial inquest into the death of Paul’s son Lachie.

“If there’s foam in the aural cavity that he saw, that suggests to me that the child was breathing in the water and whipping it up…’’ she said.

During questioning from Paul Jones’s lawyer Max Simpkins, Melinek said it was possible that froth from the pond could have been present in Lachie’s mouth, but there had been no evidence suggesting there was froth on the ponds.

During her appearance via AVL from the United States, Melinek said under a microscope, dirt and plant material could be seen in Lachie’s lungs, and in some airspaces there was bubbly fluid which was a sign of pulmonary odema, or too much fluid in the lungs.

Lachie Jone’s body was found in Gore’s waste water ponds in January 2019. He was three years old when he died.

It also became evident during questioning from Mount that Melinek did not have transcripts from all of the witnesses who gave evidence during the first sitting of the inquest, and that evidence she had about the slope of the bottom of the pond was incorrect.

She had also not been given evidence from US forensic detective Karen Smith, who will give her evidence on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.

Melinek said it was ‘’very, very unlikely to the point of being improbable’’ that Lachie had suffered a head injury that showed no external trauma that had caused his death.

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

‘’Going to the point where he had suffered a head trauma and was thrown in the water, that’s unlikely given the circumstances’’.

Melinek said the case was ‘’sufficiently straightforward, this child was relatively well preserved, that even in the absence of a head examination, I think we can determine the cause of death,’’ she said.

Lawyer Robin Bates at the Invercargill courthouse during the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones. (File photo)

There has been criticism of the pathologist who carried out the autopsy on Lachie because he did not investigate the head, which meant other causes of death may not be able to be ruled out.

Melinek said it was not unusual, in some cases, for a head examination to be omitted out of respect for cultural practices (tikanga) if there were no signs of external injury to the head in non-suspicious cases, especially when there has been an initial family objection to autopsy.

“We try out of deference to families to do the minimum we can to so we don’t cause trauma,’’ she said.

Melinek, who has 23 years’ experience as a forensic pathologist, said in her opinion that the scene investigation by police and the post-mortem examination conducted by the pathologist indicated with reasonable medical certainty that Lachie died from drowning.

She said the police investigation, scene and circumstances all point to drowning as the primary cause of death and there was no external injury that raises any concerns of other-person involvement in this child’s death.

Lawyer Robin Bates, who is acting for the police, said Melinek had not been presented with any witness statements that suggested Lachie's body had been frozen, but asked her whether she could comment on that probability.

She said: ‘’I think there’s ample evidence the body was not frozen or thawed’’.

She said there was no evidence to suggest that Lachie had died and a third party had placed him in the pond and staged the scene to look like an accident.

“It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen - it’s completely speculative,’’ she said.