No fresh inquiry into flood deaths

A FRESH coronial inquest will not be held into the deaths of a Toowoomba mother and son during the 2011 floods, despite heavy criticism over police’s handling of the investigation.

Donna Rice, 43, and her 13-year-old son Jordan, drowned when their vehicle became submerged in unprecedented floodwater at an intersection in the regional city’s CBD on January 11.

Donna, Jordan and his brother Blake, 11, had called triple-0 from the car multiple times.

However, an emergency call centre operator, who believed the family had deliberately driven into a waterway, listed their call as the lowest priority level after their cries for help.

Blake managed to escape, but Donna and Jordan died less than an hour later.

A coronial inquest was held into their deaths in 2011, however the case was one of more than 20 other flood-related fatalities heard in the courtroom at that time.

Footage also shows police controversially interviewing a distraught Blake, days after the tragedy, without a child worker present.

Donna’s partner and Jordan’s father, John Tyson, wrote to State Coroner Terry Ryan in April, requesting a fresh inquest in light of the recordings.

Acting State Coroner John Lock confirmed yesterday that he had declined Mr Tyson’s request and cited that the matter had already been investigated in 2011.

Michael Barnes, the coroner during the 2011 inquest, determined that water had “rapidly deepened” around Donna, Jordan and Blake.

But details of the police’s handling of the investigation were not yet known.

“A further inquest would not add any further information or uncover new evidence,” a spokesman said yesterday.

Mr Tyson yesterday said he was preparing to respond to the Coroner’s Office.

“(I) can’t believe that our justice system can’t look past the obvious,” he said.