Coroner speaking for the dead
A Coroner Speaks for the Dead to Protect the Living By Wallace Bain, Your Books, $39.95 .. ..
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Let the record state this reviewer admits to a personal interest in a fair number of the inquests this book documents.
As a long-time court reporter she has covered them and was one of many who urged Coroner Wallace Bain to write this book, to prevent their outcomes becoming lost in the pages of dustdry law reports and procedural records.
Since his 2020 retirement, Rotorua-based Bain has done as he was bid and thank goodness for it.
Among the inquests he's presided over and documented are the headlinegrabbing child abuse cases of toddler Nia Glassie followed soon after by baby Moko Rangitoheriri. Bain pulls no punches with his findings and recommendations in his bid to prevent further infant deaths. Some have been implemented, some haven't.
Bain also took up the cudgels to stem the tide of deaths caused by co-sleeping, becoming a staunch advocate for the use of pepi-pods to prevent parents rolling on to their babies.
Cyber-bullying, texting while driving and hunting tragedies where a companion has been mistaken for a deer have come before him — too frequently in his view. With comedian Mike King he has toured the country crusading to prevent adolescent suicides.
Some years before the coroner's court became a legally constituted judicial body, Bain, then a part-time coroner, pushed for three deathtrap one-lane bridges to be widened. New Zealand Transport Agency listened and acted. There have been no bridge deaths on that section of State Highway 30 since.
These are but an overview of a handful of inquests Bain conducted over his 28-year coronial career.
In his book he introduces readers to the inner workings of the coroner's court with an explanation of the inquisitorial role coroners play in establishing how a death was caused, without apportioning blame. He emphasises that's the job of the criminal courts.
Known for his sensitivity and compassion, Bain has lived up to the title he's given his book by speaking for the dead to protect the living. He's done so in a factual and thoroughly readable way.
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