GDC pleads guilty to charge related to death

The Gore District Council has pleaded guilty to an amended WorkSafe charge in relation to the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones.

In the Gore District Court yesterday, a guilty plea was entered to a charge of the council failing to ensure the workplace (Gore oxidation ponds) was without risks to the health and safety of any person, including Lachlan, on or about January 29, 2019.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of $500,000.

Three-year-old Lachlan was found drowned in the ponds at 11.15pm on January 29 during a search carried out by police, LandSAR and members of the community. He was unable to be resuscitated.

He was found about two hours after police were notified he was missing.

Yesterday, lawyers for both WorkSafe and the council appeared via audiovisual link before Judge Russell Walker.

Judge Walker asked if Lachlan’s parents were present in court but they were not.

The judge said a longer adjournment was needed to look at whether restorative justice could proceed and also to receive sentencing submissions from both WorkSafe and the district council’s lawyers.

Sentencing would be set down for March 6.

karen.pasco@odt.co.nz