Fulltime coroner to reduce delays

KELLY MAKIHA
Years of waiting for coroner's findings should be a thing of the past in Rotorua once a new full-time coroner is based in the city.

The full-time person will cover the Bay of Plenty police district including Rotorua, Tauranga, Whakatane, Tokoroa and Taupo.

Rotorua coroner David Dowthwaite, who has been criticised for delays that have taken up to eight years, says the new full-time coroner is great news.

He did not say if he would apply for the job.

He says the new system will be much better run than the way it is now, resulting in quicker outcomes and better quality decisions.

He was confident one coroner serving the entire Bay would be enough. If that coroner got overloaded, one of two coroners based in Hamilton could be used.

"I think 14 full-time coroners will be more capacity than New Zealand has ever had," Mr Dowthwaite said.

The Justice Ministry has announced that New Zealand's 55 mostly part-time coroners will be replaced with 14 full-time coroners based in nine regions - Rotorua, Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. They will be headed by a chief coroner, which will be a new role.

The changes will come into place under the Coroner's Act 2006, which takes effect on July 1 next year.

Mr Dowthwaite said no doubt Tauranga would not be impressed with the announcement because the city might feel as if it had lost their coroner.

However, he said the full-time coroner based in Rotorua would still be holding court sittings in the other areas throughout the Bay and the Ministry obviously thought Rotorua was a more central location.

Applications for the full-time coroners will be called for early next year.

The chief coroner will be appointed in early 2007.

The coroners and the chief coroner will be supported by a new Ministry of Justice Coronial Services Unit to be established early next year. The unit will provide dedicated case-management resources and administrative support.

Ministry Special Jurisdictions General Manager Stuart White said New Zealand's coroners had done a very important job over the years providing a service to the community without the resources and support system that would be offered by the new system.

Inspector Steve Bullock said the Rotorua police were looking forward to the changes.

"We support any changes that will see an increase in efficiency and faster turnover for families so they can have some closure.

"From a victim's perspective, it's all about closure and if a case is still before the coroner, the case is still very much alive."

Mr Dowthwaite has been criticised in Rotorua for massive delays. He said yesterday he didn't want to comment about whether that criticism was founded.

The case of 2-year-old Irani Danielle Tumanako, a toddler who accidentally hanged herself on play equipment at a Murupara kohanga reo, took eight years.

The family of 7-year-old Tahlya Ngaranoa Eruera Harris from Galatea waited seven years for a coroner's finding after she was hit by a vehicle after getting off a school bus.

Relatives of prison inmate Aupai Bruce Tohu waited more than five years for his finding after he drowned in Lake Rotorua on January 3, 2000.

At the time, he was attending a taiaha course on Mokoia Island run by local identity Mita Mohi.
WHAT THE ACT WILL MEAN * 55 mainly part-time coroners replaced with 14 full-time coroners in nine regions headed by a chief coroner * Full-time coroner based in Rotorua covering the Bay of Plenty * Quicker findings released to victims' families * Better recognition of different cultural and spiritual needs * Improving the inquiry and inquest processes and allowing greater public access to information