Inquest into March 15 attackmay not be held

‘‘If there are any issues that cannot be resolved through this information-sharing process, an inquest may follow.’’

Judge Deborah Marshall

Chief coroner

A coronial inquest into the March 15 mosque shooting in Christchurch may only be held if there are issues between victims and the chief coroner that cannot be resolved in writing.

Chief coroner Judge Deborah Marshall said yesterday that she had written to the families of the 51 victims who died in the terror attack almost two years ago. She said she wanted to offer the families access to ‘‘as much information as possible’’ on the cause and circumstances of how their loved ones died.

Two sets of information were made available – one with general detail about the shooting, and another with specific information on how a particular person died.

The packages included a timeline of the events on the day, photos of the victims as they entered the mosque for prayers on March 15, a schematic view of where each victim was when they died, and a report from the forensic pathologist on the nature of the victims’ fatal injuries.

Judge Marshall said victims would be able to write to her over the following weeks to request any further details or set out any issues they had that fell within the coronial jurisdiction. These included any aspects they believed were not resolved by the criminal prosecution process or the Royal Commission of Inquiry report.

‘‘If there are any issues that cannot be resolved through this information-sharing process, an inquest may follow. I will inform families of this decision when the time comes,’’ she said.

The purpose of the Coroners Court is to establish the facts of how someone died and determine whether any recommendations should be made for how similar deaths could be prevented in the future.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry report into the terror attack, released on December 8, included 44 recommendations, including creating a new national intelligence and security agency. However, the commission found that there was no way that police, the Security Intelligence Service or any other public sector agency could have been alerted about the imminent attack.