Lachie Jones inquest: Forensic detective slams investigation

Wednesday, 7 August 2024

Retired United States forensic detective Karen Smith gives evidence via AVL during the second hearing of the coronial inquest into the death of Lachie Jones.

A retired United States forensic detective has slammed police investigations into the death of Lachie Jones, saying they failed in 10 out of 10 areas cited as the most common errors in death investigations.

Karen Smith gave evidence at the second day of the second sitting into the death of 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.

Paul Jones, Lachie’s dad, sat with his head in his hands for much of the evidence as Smith outlined 12 failures made during the initial investigation into the death.

She said there was an improper police response to the scene and a failure to protect it, and they did not treat the death as a homicide until it could be proven it was not one.

Smith said police responded with a preconceived notion, did not take enough photographs, did not manage the crime scene process by collecting minute or perishable evidence from the victim’s body at the scene, and failed to evaluate victimology.

Police also failed to properly co-ordinate and conduct an efficient canvas of the neighbourhood, did not work together, and there was command interference within police ranks. Smith also gave an extensive list of tasks that should have been carried out at the wastewater ponds.

Police, WorkSafe, and Gore District council staff arrive at the entrance to the waste water plant during the afternoon after Lachie died.

The death was immediately determined to be an accidental drowning by the on-scene investigators with no consideration of alternate possibilities, she said.

Paul Jones with his son Lachie as a toddler.

Smith said she would not give a conclusive opinion on Lachie’s cause of death because it fell under the expertise of a forensic pathologist.

Smith had viewed possible evidence of onset rigor mortis in photographs taken at the morgue roughly 90 minutes to two hours after Lachie was found, which would extend the estimated time since death.

In the first hearing of the inquest in May, Lachie’s mother Michelle Officer gave evidence that she was helping her other son Jonathan Scott with his weightlifting equipment when the toddler escaped from her home.

Smith says she carried out detailed calculations to determine how far Lachie could have run along Salford St. (File photo)

Smith gave evidence that she carried out an experiment in her own home to estimate the time it would have taken Lachie to escape the house through the kitchen door, and said the scenario was “unsupported and disproved by the known circumstances”.

The wastewater ponds where Lachie Jones’s body was found.

She also carried out detailed calculations based on time, distance, and speed to show the possibilities regarding Lachie’s alleged escape from Debbie Thurston’s home, further along Salford St.

She concluded that even if Lachie was travelling at the ‘’improbable and constant’’ speed of 5kph, he could have made it no further than 42m away from Thurston’s door in a 30-second time frame, which was how long Officer said she took her eyes off the toddler.

Smith also gave evidence that there was no independent eyewitness to definitively place Lachie at Thurston’s house.

“It is my opinion that Lachlan Jones was not present at Ms Thurston’s house,’’ she said.

She also questioned, given that the bottom of the wastewater ponds had a rough surface, why there were no injuries on Lachie’s body if he had fallen into the ponds and attempted to self-recover.

“Given all the known information, Lachlan’s lack of injury is inconsistent with the known circumstances. It is my opinion that there would have been some physical evidence of injury from a struggle during the active drowning process on Lachlan’s feet, knees, hands, arms, or elbows,’’ she said.

The inquest into 3-year-old Lachie Jones's death, found floating in a pond five years ago, resumes with new witness testimony. His father hopes the new evidence will clarify the circumstances of his death.

Smith also discussed “investigative red flags” in the case.

She said in a forensic investigatory context, Lachie’s documented rashes and his full nappy were issues that should have been addressed.

Smith questioned evidence given by Officer during the first hearing of the inquest.

She said Officer could not have arrived at home at the time she testified was before 5.45pm, or visited the supermarket just after 5.30pm, because a scanner she used at the courier depot that she worked at was used to scan a package at 5.47pm, and no-one else was at the depot at the time.

Smith would continue giving her evidence on Thursday.