The coroner in charge of an inquest into the death of a Gore toddler says he hopes to cast some light in the shadows as the hearing wrapped up in Invercargill today.
Three-year-old Lachlan Jones was found dead more than a kilometre from his mother's home, face up in the town's oxidation ponds on the evening of January 29, 2019.
Police concluded that the toddler drowned, but Lachie's father Paul Jones has long disputed that.
He told 1News he believed "something sinister happened to my son".
A five-week long hearing over two separate phases has since taken place.
Jones told the inquest today that the last five years have taken a "huge toll" on him.
"I have continued to fight for [Lachie] ... my son idolised the police, but they have hugely let him down," he said.
The lawyer for Lachlan's mother Beatrix Woodhouse also read a statement out on behalf of herself and her family.
"Our whole world has been shattered since Lachie's passing ... words cannot express our grief and loss over losing our son and our brother."
Coroner Alexander Ho has heard evidence from family and friends, personnel on the ground the night he went missing and expert witnesses to piece together Lachie's exact cause of death.
Police counsel Robin Bates said in his summary today that experts say that the three-year-old likely drowned.
"There are, it seems, other alternatives ... that somebody put Lachie in there."
He said, "but there is another one that's been raised, and with more strength in the last few days that Lachie could have fallen and hit his head, suffering brief unconsciousness which would result in the same outcome."
However, lawyer Max Simpkins who is representing Jones said Lachie "was the subject of an inquiry by the police which was substandard, the medical profession did not complete their job".
"My submission to you is that this matter should be returned to the police and a proper and thorough investigation should be completed into this vulnerable infant."
Woodhouse in her summary said "some people ... process their grief in a private and personal way ... others it seems process their grief differently, exhibiting anger and a lack of acceptance of indisputable facts, with a view to try and find blame and recrimination.
Now it is up for the coroner to determine based on the evidence presented to date about what caused the three-year-old's death and the circumstances that surround the case.
Second phase of inquest into death of Lachie Jones opens
Expert evidence was heard today about how the toddler’s body was discovered, but questions too about how he got into the town’s waste water ponds.
Tue, Aug 6
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"It is my hope that ultimately Lachie is not remembered for matters about which we have heard over the five weeks but the other three years and eight months of his life and the love and the joy he brought to his family and ones who knew him," Ho said.
The coroner reserved his decision.
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