Lachie Jones coronial inquest: Balance of probability that toddler drowned, expert pathologist says

Lachie Jones, aged 3, was found dead in an oxidation pond near his Gore home. Composite image / Paul Slater

An expert forensic pathologist says it is within the balance of probability that Lachie Jones likely drowned.

On the evening of January 29, 2019, Lachie was found face-up in a council oxidation pond near his home.

The first fixture of the inquest into the toddler’s death began in May in the Invercargill District Court. A second fixture of the inquest resumed this week with expert witnesses set to take the stand.

Expert forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage gave evidence on the first day of the second fixture.

Counsel to assist the coroner Simon Mount KC put to Sage the conclusion of former FBI forensic detective Karen Smith, who is set to give evidence from Wednesday, that Lachie was placed in the pond by a third party.

Sage said there were three elements to this conclusion; that Lachie was placed rather than fell in, that a third party was involved, and that the scene was staged to look like an accident. There was no evidence to support any of these elements, Sage said.

Expert forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage. Photo / Pool/Southland Times

Sage told the inquest he had spent half his life in High Court cases that were beyond certain doubt.

“This comes nowhere near that,” he said.

“The balance of probability is that Lachlan drowned.”

Sage addressed allegations made during the first fixture by counsel for Paul Jones, Max Simpkins, that Lachie had been killed, and his body stored in a freezer prior to being placed in the water.

“In my view the allegation of prior death and freezing before immersion in the pond is without any identifiable factual basis.”

He noted Lachie’s body at the scene was described as “floppy.”

Sage said he would have to use the term “unascertained” to describe the death, but stressed that this could not be interpreted as saying that death has occurred from any other cause, “notably from any inflicted injury”.

He said there were some scene findings that strongly supported drowning as the cause of death, including a foam mushroom issuing from Lachie’s mouth and nose.

He noted Lachie’s lungs were not waterlogged when described in the initial pathology report, though told the inquest this may be the result of some 40 minutes of intensive resuscitation after he was retrieved from the pond.

“The presence of focal areas of overinflated lung and a diminution of the waterlogging would be an expected change in the appearances in the lungs of drowned person subject to CPR and artificial ventilation compared to a victim who has had no resuscitation.

“Accordingly, I do not believe the appearances found negate the possibility of drowning.”

Mount queried Sage on plant matter, visible under a microscope, found inside Lachie’s lungs.

Sage said it was possible the material entered the lungs during resuscitation attempts.

Sage was critical of the original autopsy conducted on Lachie, saying the pathologist stopped short of opening Lachie’s head which may have ruled out other potential causes of death.

“I think there needed to be an earlier consultation between the police, coroner and me, as to what should happen here.”

He said he would have strongly advised Lachie’s body was transported to Christchurch for examination.

Under cross-examination from counsel for Lachie’s mother, Beatrix Woodhouse, Sage said he used the term “unascertained”, but that “the most likely explanation is drowning”.

No concerns over police dog handler’s efforts

An expert in police dog handling says the dog handler who discovered Lachie Jones’ body did everything right.

Inspector Todd Southall, national co-ordinator of police dogs at the police dog training centre, was the first expert witness on the stand on Tuesday.

Southall told the inquest there was nothing in the statement of police dog handler Constable Lachlan MacDonald, who found and pulled Lachie from the water, that gave him cause for concern.

MacDonald searched for Lachie for about 90 minutes with police dog Gee. Gee did not find a trail, but picked up an airborne scent about 30m away from Lachie.

Counsel to assist the coroner Simon Count KC asked Southall if the fact Lachie had a full nappy at the time may have left a scent.

“If you’re asking me do we train on faecal matter, the answer is no, we train on the scent of a human being.”

Southall told the inquest there was “not really” a difference in scent if a person was in shoes or barefoot.

Inspector Todd Southall. Photo / Pool/Southland Times

“When someone walks on grass they crush the grass or they could stand on worms, that all leaves a scent.”

He said the scent does not last as long on a hard surface as opposed to a surface like grass.

He said when the scene was contaminated by multiple scents, it became difficult to track “because we don’t know who or what we’re tracking.”

He was asked if dogs were trained to track a specific scent related to an individual.

“It’s on movies and the likes, but it’s not something that New Zealand police do. Ninety-eight or 99% of the people that we’re looking for, we don’t know who they are.

“When you’re looking potentially at a 3-year-old who really is small, he’s not putting a lot of weight on the ground... an hour and a half is right at the max. I can’t sit here and go ‘the dog should or shouldn’t have’.”

Police counsel Robin Bates asked Southall what the likelihood of Lachie’s scent being on the concrete rim of the pond would be.

Southall said tracking on concrete was the hardest thing for a police dog handler.

“It disperses a lot quicker than it does grass. In my opinion, an hour and a half after a 3-year-old walked along there, the chances would be remote.”

Other witnesses giving evidence over the next two weeks include two pathologists, retired US forensic detective Smith called by Jones, a paediatrician, and a child psychologist.

Two new witnesses are expected on the stand during the second week, as well as a second appearance by Lachie’s brother, Jonathan Scott, who also gave evidence during the first fixture.

Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, based in Dunedin.