Emotions run high during Jones inquest
Emotions have run high during an inquest into the death of Lachie Jones in Invercargill this week, when some family members spoke publicly for the first time about the day the toddler died.
Family members and supporters of both Lachie’s mum Michelle Officer, and his father Paul Jones, as well as several police officers have crammed into courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill District Court to hear evidence in front of Coroner Alexander Ho.
At times, some have left the room upset, while others have wiped away tears.
Lachie Jones was 3 when he was found dead late on the evening of January 29, 2019, face up in a council oxidation pond near his home.
His father had spent more than four years fighting for an inquest, after he disputed the findings of two police investigations which determined that there was no evidence of neglect or criminal liability in relation to Lachie’s death.
Coroner’s counsel Simon Mount KC acknowledged why the case had gripped the community.
"How can it be that a 3½-year-old boy runs away 1.2km, 9 o’clock at night, dirty nappy, climbs a fence, travels across some pretty uncomfortable ground ... through the vegetation, no-one out searching sees him, he doesn’t respond to anyone calling out his name, the police dog doesn’t pick up the scent until quite close to him.
“Do you understand why people say this doesn’t add up?" he asked during the inquest.
Lawyer Max Simpkins, who is representing Paul Jones, put it to Lachie’s mother and then his half-brothers Cameron and Jonathon Scott that they had been involved in his death that afternoon and had frozen or chilled his body before dumping it in the wastewater ponds.
All three vehemently denied the claims, telling the court that they had been at work, and that they loved Lachie, describing him as funny, intelligent and energetic.
Simpkins also put it to Officer that she had visited her neighbour Debbie Thurston on the night Lachie died, and sent and received texts and calls to her son to create alibis – more claims that were denied.
Officer’s parenting style was called into question after a long list of Lachie’s ailments was given in evidence, but Officer said she always sought medical attention for him when he was sick.
Lachie had suffered from asthma, hay fever and eczema but she had always done her best for him, she said.
Jonathan Scott gave evidence on Tuesday morning that he had gone to an ATM while the search for his little brother was under way and bought a bag of cannabis, which he smoked later that evening with his brother and a neighbour.
His brother Cameron said on Thursday afternoon that he did not recall smoking it.
Officer and Jonathan have not returned to the courtroom to hear other witnesses giving evidence.
Cameron gave his evidence via AVL from Brisbane, where he now lives.
Thurston told the inquest on Wednesday that she was ‘’99.9% sure’’ that she could hear Lachie in her washhouse when he and Officer visited the night that he died. However, she said she did not see him.
On Thursday morning another neighbour, Maxine Cartwright, told the court that she could not be sure that the ‘’little person’’ she saw on the corner of Salford St and Grasslands Rd was Lachie.
Police had maintained that she was the last person who had seen Lachie alive.
Yesterday morning, neighbours Lisa Harris, Wesley Gray and John Bennett all gave evidence about their involvement in the search for the toddler.
Bennett told the court he had seen a topless man running near the ponds while he searched his own property.
The inquest starts again on Monday when more neighbours, and Cameron’s former girlfriend Sequoia Barrow will give evidence, and during the course of the week friends of the two brothers will also be called to the witness box.
On Thursday, Gore police officers who took part in the search and initial investigation into Lachie’s death will begin giving evidence.