Gore District Council pleads guilty to charges after toddler found dead in council pond

Lachlan Jones, who was 3 years old at the time, drowned in an oxidation pond in January 2019. Photo / Supplied

Gore’s District Council has pleaded guilty to charges laid by WorkSafe, in relation to the drowning of a toddler four years ago.

Lachlan Jones, who was 3 years old at the time, drowned in an oxidation pond in January 2019.

At the time, Gore District Council - which is responsible for the pond - pleaded not guilty to the charge and a defended hearing was due to take place the following year.

The change was then altered by WorkSafe, which saw the allegation of a serious risk of death arising from the council’s alleged breach removed.

The council pleaded guilty to the amended charges.

WorkSafe officials examine the gate through which a 3-year-old is thought to have passed before drowning. Photo / Otago Daily Times

District Council chief executive Stephen Parry said the guilty plea was to the reduced charge of failing to perform a duty.

“As always, our thoughts continue to remain with Lachlan’s whānau,” he said in a statement issued by the council.

“His death was a tragedy.”

The matter remains before the court.

Police confirmed back in 2020 they would review the drowning of the Gore toddler following claims by the boy’s father that foul play may have been responsible for his death.

The “obliging, bright and bubbly” 3-year-old’s death horrified the town, his lifeless body, lying face up, was discovered by a police search team in one of the Southland town’s sewage oxidation ponds.

Gore courier driver Paul Jones spoke to the Otago Daily Times shortly after the incident and said he felt his son had been “let down” by police.

He claimed Gore police’s investigation into his son’s death was superficial and had jumped to conclusions unsupported by the evidence.

Then, in June 2021, Jones made a call to police for them to offer a reward for more information about his son’s death, in a bid to draw out those reluctant to come forward.

“I’m going to put it to them because I reckon someone would come forward straight away,” he said at the time.