CTV families being ‘manipulated’: minister

A group of families of failed CTV building victims is angry the Government will retain part of the ‘‘one year, one day’’ rule that prevented charges over the deadly collapse.

But Justice Minister Andrew Little says the families are being ‘‘cynically manipulated’’ by National MP Nick Smith.

A three-year police investigation into the deaths of 115 people during the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, ended in late 2017 with a decision not to press charges.

The rule prevented anyone being held criminally responsible for a death occurring more than a year and a day after an act contributing to the person dying.

Police identified significant deficiencies in the CTV building design and considered charging Alan Reay and David Harding, the engineers involved, with negligent manslaughter.

The length of time between the design and when the deaths occurred was among the factors for not pursuing a case.

The Crimes Amendment Bill, which was before Parliament on Wednesday, repealed the rule – a move welcomed by CTV Families Group spokesman Maan Alkaisi.

However, a clause in the schedule said the one year and a day rule continued to apply for any current or previous design work, so would be forwardlooking only.

This meant the rule would still be relevant to the bulk of the Christchurch rebuild.

Little said the change could not be made with retrospective effect, but Alkaisi was disappointed. ‘‘This Friday we mark the eighth anniversary of the CTV tragedy.

‘‘It will add insult to injury for the CTV families if the Government passes a bill that would allow our injustice to be repeated in future,’’ Alkaisi said.

Smith, a former building and construction minister, said he could not believe the Government was ‘‘going to allow this injustice to be knowingly repeated’’.

‘‘If Christchurch has another earthquake in 30 years and one of the newly constructed buildings collapses killing a hundred people, the engineers will be able to exploit this loophole again and walk away without any accountability. I tried to get the Government to change the transitional provisions around the ‘one year, one day rule’ at the select committee to apply to any deaths that may occur after the bill is passed.

‘‘Labour members of the select committee blocked that change.’’

Little said Smith had ‘‘let the families down totally’’.

‘‘Nick Smith is playing with their emotions,’’ Little said.

‘‘He knows his proposed amendment won’t make a single bit of difference to the CTV families.’’ Under the Bill of Rights Act, no-one is liable for conviction of any offence when it did not constitute an offence at the time it occurred.

‘‘I feel sorry for the families ... who are being cynically manipulated by Nick Smith,’’ Little said.

The CTV police inquiry cost $1.18 million, including $1.15m in expert advice. Up to 13 staff worked on it at a time.

‘‘It will add insult to injury for the CTV families if the Government passes a bill that would allow our injustice to be repeated in future.’’ CTV Families Group spokesman Maan Alkaisi