A Coroner Speaks for the Dead to Protect the Living

Wallace Bain

Lighthouse Press

Otago Daily Times, July 10th 2021

Thanks to shows such as Bones and Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta series (not to mention some excellent recent memoirs), most people are familiar with the role of the forensic pathologist in cases of a sudden or suspicious death. Few, however, will be familiar with the contribution of the Coroner. It is their job to look at events leading up to the death in their broadest context to determine when, how and why the death occurred and how they could be prevented. Whilst a pathologist speaks for the dead when they can no longer speak for themselves, a Coroner then speaks for the dead to protect the living.

In A Coroner Speaks for the Dead, Wallace Bain draws on 28 years of experience to illustrate the depth and breadth of a Coroner’s work. The opening chapters cover the job’s role, workload, and history before introducing the reader to the inquisitorial processes followed by the Coroner’s Court. The remainder describes inquests covering everything from the dangers to babies of co-sleeping to top-dressing pilot fatigue and cyberbullying.

Each chapter opens with a brief introduction, but because Bain is legally (and professionally) prohibited from discussing matters outside the published findings, the bulk of the material is excerpted directly from official reports and press coverage of the inquest. Although making for dense and sometimes difficult reading, this approach makes clear why Bain’s forthright approach earned him the title “Coroner on the Warpath”. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the first two cases he presents, the deaths of Nia Glassie and Moko Rangitoheriheri: He is clearly intensely frustrated that key recommendations – the compulsory registration and monitoring of all children from birth to the age of 5, and the introduction of family-wide and culturally sensitive approach to by government agencies – have not been adopted, and the choice to place these cases first is a clear indictment of governmental and societal responses to child abuse.

In other areas, however, Bain has managed to make significant changes to legal and cultural practices. This is perhaps best exemplified by one of the most interesting cases in the book, which involves a dispute between a Pākeha woman and her husband’s Māori whanau about access to and treatment of her late husband’s body. Partly as a result of Bain’s findings, the Coroner’s Act was amended to ensure cultural considerations are taken into account when determining who can interact with a tūpāpaku (thus allowing the Coroner or another intermediary to mediate between disputing parties) and, in the case of sudden, unexpected death to enable the deceased to remain with the whānau rather than be immediately removed for autopsy unless the Coroner has reason to order otherwise.

Although I found the format confusing at times – it is not, for example, always clear which sections are excerpted and which are additional commentary – and there are several editorial oversights (mainly repeated sentences and missed capitalisation), I came from A Coroner Speaks for the Dead with a far greater appreciation of the role, reach, and limitations of the Coroner’s Court, and a powerful sense of Wallace Bain and his legacy to New Zealand. The book’s subject matter, particularly with respect to children, is distressing, and reader discretion is advised. But for anybody interested in understanding how the coronial process works in New Zealand, it provides an excellent introduction.