Seeking truth about ex-partner
A Golden Bay man says evidence his former partner tried to poison him before she died of a suspected suicide is ‘‘overwhelming’’ and he is frustrated at unexplained delays in the coroner’s office.
Dr Shelagh Dawson, a retired epidemiologist who was a researcher at the Otago University school of medicine in Christchurch, died aged 60 on May 9, 2018, of a suspected suicide.
At the time of her death, police were investigating Dawson over allegations by her ex-partner, former Christchurch builder Stephen Lewis, that she tried to poison him with medicines she obtained from her doctor for various complaints. Dawson was a hypochondriac. The investigation extended to whether she might have been involved in her husband’s death in 2009 and ACC had also started an inquiry into an alleged faked accident.
Coronial Services initially said it would not hold an inquest (public hearing) but that decision appears to be under review after new evidence emerged.
Statistics show cases needing a coronial inquiry take an average of 2.4 years before being resolved and those going to inquest take about four years.
Lewis, who now lives in Golden Bay, collapsed three times from unexplained causes in July and August 2017. Tests showed his blood contained five different prescription medicines, none of which he was taking. Dawson had taken out a $500,000 insurance policy on his life.
Lewis said he did not suspect he was being poisoned by Dawson until he woke up in hospital to see her wearing gloves and appearing to administer a yellow substance into his IV line. She claimed she wore the gloves because she was being careful about infection, and he had actually seen a yellow pen. He believes she put the medicines in his food and drink.
Lewis said he was frustrated at the delays in addressing his request for an inquest.
‘‘People are waiting years and years to get a result from the coroner. The coroner can’t even give people dates. Look if these processes take five years then so be it. But how about telling us that. How about giving us some idea of when this is going to happen. Only when my lawyer has asked have we received any information. Once a year we . . . ask what’s going on and the answer is, ‘it is on the coroner’s desk’.’’
‘‘Part of the way I see this, and I hope this won’t be misinterpreted, is that I have made those accusations that she tried to kill me. According to the response from the family, I made this up to disparage her basically. Now if that is true, then I should be held accountable. So what is really, really important about this, is that the whole story comes out, the whole truth comes out and the detail in the truth ... I believe the evidence she tried to kill me is overwhelming but other people need to see that.’’
After media coverage of Dawson’s death and the allegations against her, her children released a statement saying the allegations were unsubstantiated and they blamed post break-up spite.
Coronial Services said the case was still with Coroner Anna Tutton but it was unable to provide any dates. A spokeswoman said cases were sometimes held up while other agencies made inquiries. She was unable to say why the case had taken 41⁄ years.
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Lewis said he had managed to collect a large amount of information and his file contained 2500 pages. He questioned everything about his nearly three-year relationship with Dawson whom he first met when she was a client of his building firm.
‘‘Ultimately I don’t know the truth of anything. You live with this person. You are led to believe this is how things are and then you find out it is not.’’
He had not been in touch with Dawson’s three adult children since the suspected suicide, he said. ‘‘The police told me they did not want to hear from me.’’
Police also investigated whether Dawson had any involvement in the death of her husband of 32 years, Graham Edward Dawson, who died of multi-organ failure after a colonoscopy in September 2009.
Detectives interviewed her twice and considered the two men’s symptoms – both suffered collapses – to be nearly identical.
Lewis said from his reading of the file, there was no evidence Dawson poisoned her husband.
Lewis had no long-term physical health problems from the poisoning, he said, although he was badly affected emotionally and had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
A briefing to Minister for Courts Aupito William Sio last year predicted the number of coronial inquiries awaiting decision would increase from 3100 to 3500 by January 2024.
Eight extra coroners were appointed in 2020, while Budget 2022 committed $28.5 million over four years to fund another four coroners, seven coronial registrars and four clinical advisers to ‘‘ease workload pressures’’.