Lachie Jones, aged 3, was found dead in an oxidation pond near his Gore home. Composite image / Paul Slater
The second part of a coronial inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachie Jones is due to start today in Invercargill.
On January 29, 2019, Jones – who was 3 at the time of his death – was found face-up in an oxidation pond, 1.2 kilometres away from where he lived with his mother and two older half-brothers.
While two police investigations found that Jones drowned, his father, Paul Jones, has long rejected the official conclusions.
A coronial inquest into Lachie’s death was held earlier this year, with a second part due to begin today.
NZ Herald reporter Ben Tomsett covered the initial inquest, and told The Front Page that this second part will be focused on expert testimony.
“That’ll be some of the senior pathologists who earlier critiqued the pathologist who conducted Lachie’s initial autopsy. We’re going to be hearing from a retired former FBI agent who has also heavily criticised the police investigations. And we’re going to be hearing from Lachie’s brother [Jonathan Scott] is going to be reappearing during the second week to give evidence for a second time.”
Lachie’s mother, Michelle Officer, and her older sons Jonathan and Cameron, faced scrutiny from Paul Jones’ lawyer during the first round of the inquest, with him directly asking all three if they had a role in Lachie’s death.
In the five years since her youngest son died, Officer had not given any media interviews about what happened, but broke her silence recently in an interview with Tomsett.
“I’ve been in contact with Michelle for a couple of months now,” Tomsett told The Front Page, “and she was very hesitant to do an interview because, she has said that she does have faith in the justice system, but despite the finding of the police investigations, it was becoming clear that the story almost has a life of its own and she felt the need to speak out against the allegations that have continued to be propagated, despite the official findings.”
Officer told the Herald that she has been living a nightmare and that she just wants to be able to grieve.
“As a story, it keeps coming up in the media every few months... It just makes me feel sick with anxiety. It hasn’t stopped for five and a half years... I just want to grieve in private.
“It’s cruel and unfair, and the people making these judgments, how would they cope with it? Words can’t express what you go through.”
Listen to the full episode for more on what was covered in the first inquest and the controversy behind this case.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Officers were photographed helping to paint protest signs.