Inquest set in fatal plunge
Mother of four fell 10 storeys to her death in hotel laundry chute in 2015
The provincial government has announced that an independent inquest will be held into the death of Nadine Machiskinic, the 29-yearold Regina mother of four who died after falling 10 storeys down a laundry chute at the Delta Regina Hotel on Jan. 10, 2015.
On Friday, key differences came to light in autopsy reports the family had received, culminating in the family making an appeal at the Regina Police Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Gordon Wyant said in making the announcement during question period Wednesday that he had confidence in chief coroner Kent Stewart, but that “it’s very important that the public maintain confidence in the administration of justice.”
Wyant said the investigation will be done independently and that his office will also undertake a review of the coroner’s office.
“I’m concerned that the confidence in the coroner’s office and the confidence in the administration of justice has been put into question,” he said.
“So it’ll certainly be independent of the coroner’s office, although the coroner, of course, will have some information to provide to the inquest.”
“We certainly want to get all the answers because they all impinge on the confidence in the administration of justice,” Wyant said in response to questions on the standard of the police investigation to date.
He would not say what pressure, if any, his office had put on the coroner, but said it was his duty to act if he had concerns.
Earlier in the day, the coroner’s office had responded to a question about a potential inquest with an emailed response saying: “Should additional evidence be discovered, the Office of the Chief Coroner could consider reopening the investigation.”
Although no new evidence likely emerged in the meantime, a short time later Wyant confirmed an inquest was in fact going to happen.
Last Friday, the Machiskinic family released documents that showed striking differences between autopsy reports they were given in April and June. They have long argued that the investigation failed to pay enough attention to Machiskinic’s final movements, with one burning question being how she ended up in the laundry chute.
Though a toxicology report showed a range of substances in her body, it emerged that experts differed on whether someone in such a state would have been able to climb into the chute on their own. If this was not possible, the inference must be that foul play was involved, the family says.
In the final autopsy report, the Saskatchewan Office of the Chief Coroner relied on the opinion of Dr. Graham R. Jones, an Alberta toxicologist who said he did not believe “that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that she would have been incapable of climbing into the laundry chute without assistance.”
However, in an earlier version — which the family thinks they were given accidentally — Saskatchewan forensic pathologist Shaun Ladham wrote that, “the levels of the drugs present would make it unlikely that she would have been able to climb into the laundry chute on her own.”
Ladham initially said the manner of death should be listed as undetermined. However, he was later overruled, and there was no comment from him in his updated report about how he once held a different opinion, or that the findings had been altered.
Machiskinic’s aunt, Delores Stevenson, had earlier told the police meeting she still had many unanswered questions.
“We are tired of being juggled around,” she said. “Given the profile and lingering questions in this case, including the conflicting autopsy reports, we think that it’s time for Regina Police Service to sit down with myself and my mother and the people that are raising Nadine’s children.”
The family has long raised concerns about how key lines of inquiry were allowed to run cold, including hotel camera footage that showed two men who entered an elevator at the same time as Machiskinic. The men have never been found, with police only publicly releasing footage of them in May. There was also a six-month delay in police sending toxicology samples for inspection.
After the inquest announcement, Tony Merchant, the family’s lawyer, said:
“I had the sense that officialdom was closing ranks, not answering questions,” he said. “They knew there was something wrong but thought they could weather the storm. I congratulate the attorney general for looking on in an unbiased manner and seeing that something was wrong and that this was the right thing to do.”
Speaking Wednesday morning, Deputy Police Chief Dean Rae admitted there were “problems” during the investigation, such as the delay with the samples, but said it had been a full investigation. Speaking later, after the inquest announcement, Rae said the afternoon’s developments didn’t come as a complete shock.
“I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m not necessarily surprised by it either,” he said, adding his force will co-operate fully with any inquest that will happen. “We’re also hoping that this provides answers to the public and to the family, and that maybe that can assist the family to get closure on this tragedy.”