‘Easier to cover up’ with fewer inquests

A four-fold reduction in coroner’s inquests is alarming and will make it easier to cover up failures that cause unexpected deaths, a prominent lawyer says.

New figures reveal the number of coroner’s cases being scrutinised at a public inquest has plummeted from 330 in 2012 to 83 in 2017.

The proportion of inquests has also fallen consistently, from one in four in 2012 to just one in 13 in 2017. The decline raises further questions about why coroner’s court delays are at their worst level in six years, as revealed by Stuff earlier this month.

It’s up to coroners to decide whether to inquire into a death in private – ‘‘on the papers’’, or in open court at an inquest.

Lawyer Nigel Hampton, QC, said the drop in inquests was astonishing and required explanation. More ‘‘in-chambers’’ inquiries would make it easier for institutions under scrutiny to put their view of events, unchallenged. ‘‘The concern is that it becomes far easier to paper over/ cover up actions and behaviour that shouldn’t be papered over or covered up – it should be corrected. Scrutiny and daylight is the best remedy.’’

A good example was the death of 14-year-old Prayer Ready in an isolation room at the Gloriavale Christian community on the West Coast, which seemed worthy of an inquest but was instead decided in secret, Hampton said.

Ready’s family subsequently asked the solicitor-general to consider a full inquest into Prayer’s death, but their request was declined.

‘‘If those are the sorts of cases being dealt with on the papers, in chambers, then I am quite alarmed,’’ Hampton said.

Dave Macpherson recently attended the inquest for his son Nicky Stevens, who died of suspected suicide in Waikato District Health Board care in 2015. While Macpherson found the process stressful and adversarial, it was important to have the case heard in open court, he said.

The Justice Ministry initially said it did not record whether cases were decided by public inquest or on the papers. That’s despite Chief Coroner Deborah Marshall telling Stuff that more than 90 per cent of cases were decided without an inquest.

Marshall refused a further interview.

A Coronial Services spokesperson noted the 2016 Coroners Amendment Act removed the need for mandatory inquests for people who died in official custody, even if it was due to natural causes. However, commentary around the law change suggested it would reduce inquest numbers by only about 10 a year.

The ministry had no other explanation for the huge drop in inquest numbers: ‘‘The decision to hold an inquest or hold a hearing on the papers is a judicial decision made considering the requirements of the Coroners Act 2006 and the particular circumstances of each individual case.’’

‘‘. . . the drop in inquests was astonishing and required explanation.’’ Lawyer Nigel Hampton, QC