Day 10. Findings

 Today we are presented by Deputy state Coroner Hugh Dillon with his findings.

The findings are unsurprising to anyone who has been in court for the last 9 days. A précis of his findings are as follows.

Jai Morcom died of a basial subarachnoid haemorrhage on the morning of 28 August 2009 during an altercation in the schoolyard of Mullumbimby High School. No evidence has been seen to show he was bashed to death or murdered by any person or group. How the Subarachnoid haemorrhage was brought on about is inconclusive.

Deputy state coroner findings were presented with great detail and untold compassion for the family and friends of Jai. I have been in this inquest from day one and quite frankly it could not have been more thorough and methodical in its investigation. It is no small wonder that it has taken a year and six months to reach this point.

Hugh Dillon pointed out that one has to remember around thirty people were present in a sudden fast moving quickly changing event that lasted between 30 seconds and a minute. People will see and recall things in rapid fragments that when after the event and a degree of conversation cross referencing has taken place, (it is not possible to isolate thirty people from each other in the aftermath) confusion sets in over the sequence of fragments, the identity of people in those fragments and confusion over what they saw to happen and what they heard had happened. This has led to many of the testimonies being inconsistent and not possible to corroborate accurately into cogent reliable evidence. 

When a child dies you want answers, and if it is in traumatic circumstances you most certainly want someone to be held to account. As I have said in this Blog on many occasions the truth is an evasive creature, it is sometimes evasive because someone has hidden it and sometimes it’s evasive because it is simply indistinct. This inquest has shown that no one has tried to hide the truth, with an investigation team of this magnitude it would have been dug up with little effort. The sad fact is, this ‘truth’ is evasive because it is too indistinct to isolate and sometimes that is the hardest and most bitter pill to swallow.

Outside the court Steve Drummond expressed his disappointment and said he was considering his options