Jacinda Ardern says she felt a duty of care to the families of the victims of the CTV building. Photo / Dean Purcell
Jacinda Ardern says she felt a duty of care to the families of the victims of the CTV building. Photo / Dean Purcell
The Prime Minister has met with the victims' families of the CTV building collapse in Christchurch on Thursday.
PM Jacinda Ardern says she felt a duty of care and that from a pure human perspective it was important to do everything in her power to prevent such a tragedy inthe future.
The CTV building collapsed after the February 22, 2011 earthquake, killing 115 people including 65 foreign students. It accounted for the bulk of the quake's 185 deaths.
Ardern gave the families an update on the work the government has been doing, since the Justice Minister Andrew Little met with families in December, which included looking into legislation surrounding the 'year and one day' rule.
The rule, which is explained under the Crimes Act as death to have taken place within a "year and a day" after the defendants' negligent conduct ceased - is an obstacle to prosecution in this case, Crown Law stated last year.
"Myself and the Justice Minister agree (the rule) no longer has a place in our law - we are working hard to see what can be done about that," Ardern said.
The families were anxious to talk to Ardern about their disappointment with the police decision not to prosecute the engineers responsible for the building because they think convictions would be unlikely.
"(The meeting) was about what we can do to make sure this situation doesn't happen again, that means in terms of those who may be responsible and to make sure that buildings in New Zealand are as safe as they can be for those who work in them," she said.
"As a government, when it comes to decisions about prosecution we don't have the power to intervene."
Maan Alkais, who lost his wife in the collapse, is pushing for the case to go through the courts.
"There is something wrong happening and we can't just leave it," he said.
"The Prime Minister was really a wonderful person, sincere and was clear as to what the government can and can't do, and we also hope that they support us."
