Behind Boy in the Water

What motivates a journalist to spend years fighting for justice for someone they don't even know? The award winning Boy in the Water podcast came from one father's anguish over his son's death. It's the sort of approach these journalists get every dayInvestigative journalist Melanie Reid is approached most days by someone asking for help on a case of bad justice because they can't afford a lawyer."There's a whole lot of people who come to us who don't go to lawyers and I think it's because justice is not accessible to New Zealanders anymore," she says."Something needs to happen about this because you can only get legal aid in this country if you're essentially unemployed or have a very low income. Any person on a middle range income can't afford, or has no access to, the legal system because they can't afford lawyers."It means that anyone fighting for ACC, or who has been wrongfully dismissed at work but not in a union, or falsely accused, does "not have a shit show in hell of getting anywhere"."That's why they come to us," Reid says.But the dwindling number of journalists means that most will never see justice done.Reid and her Newsroom Investigates colleague Bonnie Sumner have just completed 23 episodes of season two of the award-winning Boy in the Water podcast, covering the inquest into the death of Lachlan Jones.The little boy's lifeless body was found face up in Gore's sewage oxidation pond in January 2019. The police said he had run away from his home, climbed a fence to the ponds, fallen in and drowned. There were no suspicious circumstances, police said, and the case was closed.Reid and Sumner started digging into it after being approached by Lachie's father Paul Jones and after several years of investigating uncovered what Reid calls layers of institutional failings.The coroner called for an inquest, which was held in Invercargill last month.From their BnB in the southern city Reid and Sumner pulled together daily updates from the inquest, with the help of a small team in Dunedin and Auckland.After years of trying to unravel what happened to little Lachie they reckon they know more than anyone about the case. But what took place in courtroom 4 over more than three weeks was full of surprises, they say.They joke about the fan club of Kings Counsel, Simon Mount, with his "intelligent, clear, gentle" questioning of witnesses."He's almost like a spider catching a fly, he weaves around and around and around and gets tighter and tighter until they choke," says Reid…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details