This week marks the return of Newsroom’s chart-topping investigative podcast, The Boy in the Water, when investigations editor Melanie Reid will take listeners inside the courtroom during the coronial inquest into the death of three-and-a-half year old Lachlan Jones.
Lachie was found floating face up in an oxidation pond on the outskirts of Gore by a police dog and its handler on a hot summer’s night in January 2019.
Not long after the boy died, police deemed his death an accident and closed the case, concluding the pre-schooler had walked more than a kilometre from his mother’s house in his hi-viz vest, climbed over a fence and traipsed across long prickly grass in bare feet to the end of the second of two vast ponds before falling in and drowning.
Newsroom has covered this case for more than four years, including two video investigations and last year’s nine-part first season of The Boy in the Water, which revealed multiple criticisms of the police investigations and uncovered new evidence that cast doubt about the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death.
Just days after the final episode of The Boy in the Water was published, police announced a review into their handling of the case and self-referred the matter to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
Then, in August 2023, Coroner Alexander Ho announced he would hold an inquest into Lachie’s death, to be held at the Invercargill courthouse for three weeks beginning today, and another two weeks in August.
Melanie Reid and her team have travelled to Invercargill to cover the inquest for season two of the podcast. It will take listeners inside the inquest to hear the voices of the key people involved in this case as they give evidence.
Witnesses to appear include Lachie’s mother and two older brothers, neighbours and eyewitnesses from the area Lachie lived, and police officers involved in the initial investigation.
His father, Paul Jones, will also appear. He told Newsroom he’s both excited and apprehensive about the inquest.
“Why am I here five and a half years down the track fighting this battle where if the job was done properly from the night my son was found in those ponds, would I be here now? I don’t think so. I think there would’ve been another outcome.
“So now it sits with the coroner to answer all those questions right from the beginning of how Lachie got out the door, to how he ended up down at those ponds with no marks on his feet to how come he had no water in his lungs. All those questions I hope will be answered.”
The first season of The Boy in the Water has been nominated for best podcast and best investigation at this year’s Voyager Media Awards, announced in May.
Melanie Reid and Newsroom made such an important contribution to ensuring that this coronial inquest happened. I look forward to your further coverage and, in time, Coroner Ho’s findings. It beggars belief that such a small child could walk the distance Lachie supposedly walked barefoot, fall into a pond and “drown” and be found without a mark on him and no water in his lungs. Paul Jones has never let up and, I hope for his sake, he receives the answers he needs.