Lachie Jones inquest: Who was in charge?
The organisation that Lachie Jones idolised has admitted errors were made in the early stages of the investigation into his death.
Those errors, including not locking down scenes, providing incomplete information to the coroner’s office and assuming the death was accidental, meant that crucial evidence was not obtained, the inquest was told on Thursday.
Three Southland police officers – two with senior rankings – admitted they all thought someone else was in charge on the night the 3-year-old died and in the days following.
It remains unclear who was leading the investigation.
An inquest into the death of Lachie Jones is being held in Invercargill. He was found dead late on the evening of January 29, 2019, face up in a council oxidation pond near his home.
Family members have given evidence that he loved dressing up as a police officer and issuing people with tickets.
Lachie’s father, Paul Jones, said outside of court yesterday morning it was good for police to admit they had made mistakes, but it was not going to bring his son back.
“What I’ve heard so far is no-one has taken any responsibility for the police side of it, They’re all blaming each other,’’ he said.
When asked how hard it has been to listen to the testimony, he said ‘’real hard“.
“It’s just lacking a bit of respect, especially for Lachie and the way they treated him that night ... If it was one of their [children] that they’d arrived to and found out there, I’m sure they wouldn’t have treated it the way they treated my son’’. He said an apology from police now would ‘’mean nothing to me’’.
This week, police involved in the investigation began giving evidence at the inquest before Coroner Alexander Ho.
Detective Sergeant David Kennelly, Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley and former sergeant Hua Tamariki have all given evidence that no formal chain of command was put in place.
Kennelly, who was a member of the Winton CIB, gave evidence on Tuesday that Fairley was the officer in charge that night because she was the ranking officer for eastern Southland.
He went to Gore as part of the search and rescue team, and instigated a ‘’reconnaissance’’ around the ponds on the night Lachie died.
Kennelly said he was attending as a non-commissioned officer in a search and rescue capacity, and he had no further role in the investigation after the night Lachie died because he was leading a marine search for two fishermen who had gone missing off Slope Point.
On Thursday, Fairley gave evidence that Tamariki was in charge on the night in question.
Fairley said she was off duty when she received a call from a member of the public about Lachie going missing and went to the scene because there were some inexperienced, younger staff on duty.
She said the day after the death, Tamariki asked to lead the investigation into Lachie’s death because it was a development opportunity for him, and she was happy for him to do so.
While giving his evidence on Thursday afternoon, Tamariki said it was his understanding Fairley was in charge, despite her going on leave two days after the death.
Tamariki said he had never expressed an interest in taking over the file, and in his view Fairley had oversight of it and therefore was the officer in charge.
Later in his testimony, Tamariki said given there was an unknown cause of death, he thought the best person to make decisions was Kennelly, because he thought “CIB came in over the top of the investigation”.
Yesterday morning, Simon Mount, KC, who is assisting the coroner, said Fairly had told the inquest that Tamariki was in charge, but Tamariki had given evidence that Fairly was in charge.
He asked “how it could be that there was such a clash?’’
Tamariki replied “I can’t comment on what she believed at the time or now. My understanding was that my role in the investigation was OC [officer in charge] general inquiries.
Fairley has been represented by her own lawyer, Susan Hughes KC, during the inquest while police have been represented by Robin Bates.
During cross-examination of Tamariki, Hughes said Tamariki was “calling the shots”. He had emailed staff about the investigation and told them to save information to his shared folder. “I wouldn't use the term ‘calling the shots’,’’ Tamariki replied.
“I was of the belief I was not the head officer in charge of the investigation.”
In August 2023, police admitted they “missed some steps” in the original investigation, and its reinvestigation arrived at the same conclusion
Mount questioned Kennelly and Fairley about an internal report, into how the investigation was handled, by Detective Superintendent Darryl Sweeney.
The report said that there was a lack of CIB leadership and communication, the scene should have been secured and contained until the morning, and there was not sufficient clarity about leadership on night Lachie died. Both agreed with his findings.
Courtroom four at the Invercargill courthouse has been packed with police during the two weeks of the inquest, and Southland area commander Inspector Mike Bowman has popped in from time to time to listen to testimony.
When Fairley took the stand on Thursday, only Detective Inspector Stu Harvey, who led the second investigation into the death, was there to hear the evidence.
Fairley is now the Southern District resilience to organised crime in communities co-ordinator.