MORE CORONERS ARE NEEDED

Sep 13, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

There is no reason why an incident of unnatural death at the hands of the police should lead to calls by opposition parties for either the interdiction of ranks or for charges to be made.
Politicians should not have to be calling for such action. If our public institutions were functioning as they ought, there would have been no need for such calls. The system should have been as such that once an unnatural death occurs certain things are automatically activated.
When someone dies unnaturally, the police are required to conduct its own criminal investigation even if its ranks were involved in the unnatural death. The job of the police is to investigate the incident regardless of who is involved.
However, given the lack of public trust in police investigating their own, the law also provides for coroner’s inquests to be held into all cases of unnatural deaths.
A coroner’s inquest is an inquiry to determine the identity of the deceased, where death occurred, how it happened and what was the cause of death.
In making a determination as to the cause of death, coroners are usually required to specify the actual cause of death and the factors that contributed to this cause.
A few years ago, a senior policeman was killed while on an operation. He was believed to have been shot by criminals hiding in a wooded area. The inquest, however, found that contributing to the death was the failure of his fellow officers to take him to the hospital in a more timely fashion.
The findings of a coroner, however, do not create criminal culpability, guilt or blame but it can eventually lead to criminal charges being instituted. This is one of the main benefits of having such inquests.
A coroner’s inquest is also not a commission of inquiry and therefore does not investigate the circumstances that gave rise to death. Such a function falls upon the police investigation or a commission of inquiry.
Unfortunately, this requirement only remains operable on the statue books. In reality, by the time inquests are held, public interests would have waned and witnesses would not be available.
The holding of coroner’s inquest into unnatural deaths should be done in a more timely fashion. In fact, the laws should be amended to ensure that within three months of an unnatural death, an inquest commences. This will help to restore public confidence in the system of justice and ensure that there can be no police cover- ups because any such attempt will be quickly intercepted by the coroner’s inquest.
If judges are now being given deadlines by which they are required to complete writing their decisions in completed cases, there is no reason why a similar provision cannot be legislated for the commencement of a coroner’s inquest. The inquest does not have to end within three months of death; it merely has to begin.
This will ensure that investigations do not drag out but will not pressure the police in hasty decisions that can prejudice or undermine the interest of justice. The government should seriously consider enacting such a provision when parliament resumes.
It will certainly keep the investigating authorities on their toes and ensure that matters are not covered up, however long it will take for the inquest to be completed.
The completion of inquests, in fact the commencement of inquests, is obviously dependent on the workload of the various magistrates who are responsible for the hearing of inquests.
In this regard, it is important that the laws be amended to allow for other qualified persons to be appointed as coroners so as to ensure timelier commencement of inquests.
Obviously you need experienced persons to undertake inquests and there are many retired lawyers, judges and magistrates who could be reemployed to these inquests. It will certainly take the workload off of our magistrates and help to rebuild confidence in the system.
Like a post mortem, a coroner’s inquest does not undo what was done but by serving the interest of justice, it can help ensure that any irregularities or unlawful acts by persons, including police ranks, are not likely to be repeated with impunity.

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MORE CORONERS ARE NEEDED

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