Police say they should have interviewed a dying man who was possibly pushed out of a second-storey window in Christchurch in 2006.
Sydney Boyd, 66, was found with serious injuries on May 23, beneath a smashed second-storey window of a Housing New Zealand complex where he lived in
Riccarton Rd. He died in Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit on June 30.
Police treated Mr Boyd's death as suspicious and believed it was unlikely he died as a result of an accidental fall.
Police have never made an arrest in the case, and were never able to prove Mr Boyd was pushed from the window.
Yesterday, Coroner Richard McElrea held an inquest into Boyd's death, The Press reported today.
Detective Geoffrey Ruddock, the officer in charge of the investigation, said he should have gone to see Mr Boyd in the intensive care unit, but he did not.
"I have had to live with that."
Mr Ruddock said he was of the opinion that Mr Boyd was going to get better.
It was unlikely anyone would be charged over the death, which he believed was not an accident.
Mr Boyd had been on his way to have a "cup of tea" with another resident, when he went through the window, said Mr Ruddock.
Several residents gave evidence at the inquest they heard Mr Boyd arguing with a man on the stairwell, but no one saw him going through the window.
Pathologist Dr Martin Sage told the inquest Mr Boyd died of a rare complication of having a tracheostomy, where a pipe is inserted through the windpipe.
He had required a tracheostomy as a result of the fall.
Dr Sage said there was no error in the treatment of Mr Boyd by hospital staff.
The coroner reserved his findings.
- NZPA
