Coroner Alexander Ho’s inquest into the 2019 death of 3-year-old Lachie Jones continued at the Invercargill District Court today.
The toddler was found dead in an oxidation pond in Gore and the police, after almost immediately concluding it was an accidental drowning, admitted they "missed steps" in the initial investigation.
Today Lachie’s half-brother Jonathan Scott, who was 16 in 2019, gave evidence that the two of them got on "really well".
Mr Scott said he had been at work the afternoon of Lachie’s disappearance before his mother Michelle Officer had picked him up and the three of them travelled home.
At the house, he worked out and tried to fix a sprinkler before going to his room.
He said the last time he saw his brother was in the lounge where the boy was watching cartoons.
Mr Scott had a notebook in which he recorded his daily work hours but Max Simpkins, counsel for Lachie’s father Paul Jones, said there was nothing to indicate that it had been sighted by anyone at his workplace.
"This is a document that you could’ve put together at any time between now and Lachlan’s death, isn't it?," Mr Simpkins suggested.
"I guess," Mr Scott replied.
The witness said before Lachie went missing, he had got $50 from an ATM and bought cannabis.
Initially he told police the cash was for his brother.
"You lied to cover yourself, didn't you?" Mr Simpkins asked.
"And others, yeah," Mr Scott answered.
He admitted that he knew he should have been truthful, but was worried he would get into trouble.
In the evening of January 10, 2019, Jonathan’s mother came into his room to tell him Lachie was missing.
"Despite the fact that [Lachie] was lost, missing, not there, your mother was panicking… you elected to do nothing, is that right?" Mr Simpkins said.
"That's right," Mr Scott confirmed.
"You knew your brother was deceased at that stage didn't you?" Mr Simpkins said.
Mr Scott denied the allegation.
Mr Simpkins put to Mr Scott that Lachie had died earlier in the day and he and his mother knew about it.
He said there were reports of Lachie’s body being cold when he was found and asked the witness if he and his mother had kept the boy’s body in the freezer while they worked out what to do with him.
"That’s ridiculous," Mr Scott said.
Later that night, a victim support representative came to Mr Scott’s home to talk to him and his brother.
Her job sheet from the night said "I asked them how they were coping, they just brushed it off as if it wasn’t an issue".
Mr Scott said that was simply the woman’s opinion and he did not want to speak to strangers about his brother’s death.
"You brushed it off because you knew more about what really happened to Lachlan, didn’t you Mr Scott?" Mr Simpkins asked.
The witness said that was not true.
This afternoon Deborah Thurston, a neighbour and friend of Lachie’s mother, will be in the witness box.
