Man’s violence risk reviews ‘insufficient’
Police investigations into violent incidents linked to an allegedly murderous stepfather were in hindsight ‘‘insufficient’’, a detective says.
Yesterday, Coroner Brigitte Windley restarted an inquest into the death of Leon Jayet-Cole, 5, after he was taken to Christchurch Hospital on May 27, 2015, with serious head injuries. He died the next day. His stepfather James Roberts was charged with his murder and died in June 2016, awaiting trial. The circumstances of his death cannot be reported.
Leon and his older brother were autistic and did not speak.
Detective Sergeant Chris Power, who headed the investigation into Leon’s death, told the inquest he was inclined to agree that virtually every agency involved with Leon and his family had failed to appreciate the full picture of the family’s circumstances.
Taken through incidents between 2012 and 2015 in which police were made aware of Roberts’ potential for violence, Power said police had investigated but in hindsight the depth of investigations was insufficient.
Anne Toohey, counsel for Leon’s father Michael Cole, traversed incidents in which police dealt with complaints about Roberts, repeatedly suggesting police, as the lead agency in child abuse, had numerous opportunities to ensure Roberts’ risk was exposed.
Better recording of information could have resulted in better decisions, Power said.
Police were alerted to bruises on the face, head and body of another child in Leon’s household in January 2013. Police did not ask
for photographs of the injuries taken at Christchurch Hospital and had not been able to rule out the explanation provided by the child’s mother, Emma Jayet.
The powerful images would have had a ‘‘real influence’’ on the police conclusion the injuries were not inflicted, Power said.
Had police interviewed more people, they would have discovered Roberts was present when the injuries were sustained.
Another incident in September 2012, when police were notified of another child in the household being slapped by Emma Jayet around the head, was investigated briefly but closed off, he said.
A complaint from Cole on January 21, 2013, about text messages Roberts had sent him threatening to rape him, his partner and his partner’s disabled child had been reviewed and police had taken no further action, Power said.
In September 2014, police received a confidential report from a school staff member about the injuries a child in the same household as Leon had sustained. Power agreed police did not talk to the doctor who treated the injuries and said a police investigation might have unearthed the true picture.
On April 5, 2015, a Ministry of Social Development (MSD) staffer had called at Leon’s house to deliver a summons to Roberts over welfare fraud. He found the three children in the house unattended and a child told him this happened often. The MSD staffer alerted Child, Youth and Family and he received threatening text messages from Roberts. Police accepted Roberts was sorry and took no action, Power said.
Only a few weeks before Leon’s death, Roberts threatened a neighbour with a knife and police were called to the street three times in one day. He also cut up a trampoline with a knife. Power said Roberts should have been charged and described the incidents as ‘‘building evidence’’ of the risk of violence by Roberts to a range of people.
The inquest continues today.
Had police interviewed more people, they would have discovered Roberts was present when the injuries were sustained.