Coroner Alexander Ho’s inquest into the 2019 death of the 3-year-old continued today at Invercargill.
Police concluded the toddler had drowned after he was found face up in an oxidation pond more than 1km away from his Gore home on January 29 that year.
The pathologist, who has interim name suppression, was in the witness box today and said he “reluctantly agreed” to complete the autopsy.
He said a child's death was “normally a specialist task” and not something he had been routinely doing.
He said “without a doubt” Dr Martin Sage, a forensic pathologist, should have completed the autopsy.
“You can't call Dr Sage, he’s impossible to get a hold of,” he explained.
“It’s either I do the autopsy or no autopsy sometimes.”
After Dr Sage commented on the post mortem in 2021, the doctor who completed the autopsy said: “I strongly feel it is very unfair for him to criticise an autopsy he himself should've done, and I did not want to do”.
He explained the diagnosis of drowning is reached by excluding other causes of death.
“In my opinion, the cause of death still would be drowning unless someone can find an alternative diagnosis,” the witness said.
He said while a full post mortem was directed, they did not examine the inside of Lachie's head after a phone call with the coroner, in which he was directed not to do so.
He explained this was not unusual if the cause of death had been determined beforehand.
There was no record of the phone call in the coroner’s log and the doctor had not documented the call, the inquest heard.
The pathologist was aware of cultural issues around touching the head in an autopsy and knew there had been an objection to Lachie’s post mortem.
Counsel assisting the coroner Simon Mount, KC, asked the doctor if the head should have been examined.
“In hindsight, yes,” he replied.
“It's an unnatural death but I didn't think the circumstances were unusual, I was told it was a routine drowning.
“I saw no indication of any kind of trauma... and combining [that] with the police findings I thought it was adequate. Other possibilities were excluded.”
He said at the time there was not adequate professional support or access if he needed to consult a forensic pathologist, and there were none in Southland.
“It's changed completely now, they no longer do autopsies in Invercargill,” he said.
The witness accepted that Lachie’s lungs were lighter than average, but said lung weight in drownings was not always specific.
He said a “dry drowning” - where water never reaches the lungs - could have occurred, although the court heard this applies to less than 10% of cases.
Mortuary technician Bill Little, who helped with the autopsy, told the inquest this afternoon there was nothing to indicate the death was suspicious.
“There was nothing at all there to indicate to us that it was a suspicious or unexplained cause of death."
He confirmed that the pathologist was reluctant to do the post mortem.
“I am aware that [the pathologist] was apprehensive about it, he didn't want to do it and he suggested it should be referred to the forensic team for post mortem,” Mr Little said.
Throughout the hearing there have been accusations that some of the boy's family were involved in his death and that they stored him in a freezer.
Mr Mount asked if there were any signs that Lachie had been placed in a freezer.
“He was cool to the touch, which is expected,” Mr Little said.
“There was absolutely no signs of freezing, frostbite or that kind of thing.”
Mr Mount also asked why the boy's head was not examined inside, despite the direction for a full post mortem.
“If we don't need to do something, to preserve dignity we don't do it,” Mr Little said.
“We thought it was not justified with the evidence we had.”
Boy not prone to running off, says teacher
Earlier in the day, Lachie’s preschool teacher Leisa Diamond gave evidence that the boy was not much of a runner or climber.
“Lachie had the kindest soul, all the kids loved him,” she said.
“He was very well liked by all the staff because of his kind and polite nature.”
She said Lachie was compliant, did not run off and was often immersed in his role plays as a police officer.
“I could tell he had a good grasp of right and wrong,” Ms Diamond said.
“He was always too busy immersed in play to take off.”
Mr Mount asked the witness if she thought Lachie would climb the fence into the area where the oxidation ponds were.
“I don't know if he’d have the interest to climb it... I can't comment on his capability,” she said.
The inquest will continue tomorrow with police officers expected to give evidence.
