CTV families vow to ‘keep fighting’

Many families of Canterbury Television (CTV) building collapse victims will ‘‘keep fighting’’ after a meeting with police and Crown Law about the decision not to press charges over the tragedy.

Police announced this month they would not be pursuing criminal charges against either engineer David Harding or his boss Alan Reay over design deficiencies in the building that contributed to its collapse in the February 2011 earthquake, killing 115 people.

They, along with Deputy SolicitorGeneral Brendon Horsley and Christchurch Crown Prosecutor Mark Zarifeh, met families at the Avonhead Baptist Church on Thursday to answer questions about the case. Many families had been upset by the decision not to prosecute and may seek a judicial review. Afterwards, Maan Alkaisi, whose wife Maysoon Abbas died in the collapse, said the ‘‘intense’’ discussion left him unconvinced.

‘‘I’m now determined to go ahead and keep fighting until justice is done. Because, after listening to other family members, it is clear that the arguments put by police is not convincing.

‘‘They called [the prosecution case] ‘finely balanced’. Finely balanced means 50-50. This is where things should go to court to sort, not somewhere in a room in Wellington.’’

Karen Selway, who lost her sister Susan, said she got few answers out of the meeting.

‘‘Either the response was ‘That’s a very difficult point’ or ‘That’s highly complex’ or ‘That really sits with someone else’. There’s lots of questions that are still unanswered.’’

The families will meet Justice Minister Andrew Little on Sunday and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the new year.

‘‘We will ask [Little] for law reforms to prevent something like this from happening again. To prevent families from waiting seven years to hear that there’s no resolution,’’ Alkaisi said.