Nigel Hampton KC says he can't say who the charges would be laid against, without breaching confidentiality. Photo: Iain McGregor/The Press
The lawyer for Pike River families says police now have enough evidence to lay manslaughter charges over the disaster.
Nigel Hampton KC said police believe they have evidence showing specific acts of gross negligence, which are linked to the fatal explosion, in which 29 men were killed.
"From that, sufficient evidence has been collected by the police for them to conclude that they can now show specific acts of what they say were gross negligence and they can link those acts causatively to the explosion and therefore to the deaths.
"That equals potentially 29 charges of manslaughter being brought against certain individuals, the police have reached that view. It's now with the Crown and the Crown have got to make a decision about what they're going to do."
Hampton said he was not able to comment on who those charges would be laid against, without breaching confidentiality.
"It's been a cause of frustration and further anguish to the families, the time delay, but if it's another month or two months or three months or whatever, they're prepared to wait it out."
'Slap in the face'
Hampton said that anguish was exacerbated for Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse this week, after they were asked to meet with Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden on the 15th anniversary of the disaster, in a meeting they described as a complete waste of time.
Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse at Parliament this week. Photo: RNZ / Anneke Smith
"They attend at Parliament instead of being on the Coast with other families commemorating, grieving the deaths of their loved ones...then they are met with a negative response from the workplace minister indicating that from their point of view, the family's point of view, there's going to be rollback on health and safety stuff that came out of the Pike disaster and that only feels like a slap in the face for the women."
Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori all expressed support for a corporate manslaughter charge.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry into the explosion in 2012 found New Zealand's old safety laws lacked teeth, and there were catastrophic failings in the mining company's systems, despite numerous warnings of a potential disaster.
Hampton said following the inquiry, police reached the view there were acts of gross negligence, both in terms of actions taken and actions not taken by the mining company and those in charge that would have formed the foundation of a prosecution for criminal nuisance under the Crimes Act, but the acts couldn't be directly linked to the initial explosion and the deaths.
At the same time, the Department of Labour laid health and safety charges against Pike River Coal Ltd, its former chief executive Peter Whittall and a contractor, VLI Drilling Ltd.
The charges against Whittall were dropped in 2013 in exchange for payments to the victims' families, which had since been declared unlawful by the Supreme Court.
Efforts by Pike River families, including Osborne and Rockhouse, to prevent the mine from being sealed in 2021 ultimately led to police being able to re-enter the mine and recover further material and evidence from the inside the drift.
In September 2022, police announced they were reopening the borehole drilling operation as part of the investigation and 10 boreholes were drilled, imaged, and resealed. Human remains were found in the mine in 2023.
Police have been working with the Crown Solicitor since the investigation concluded, over whether to lay charges.
A police spokesperson said they could not provide a timeframe for when a decision would be made on the matter.
The Crown Law office said the decision whether to prosecute ultimately sat with police and they were working with the Wellington Crown Solicitor on matters relating to the decision to prosecute.
The office said it was aware of that work and didn't have anything further to add at present.
'Incredibly frustrating'
Sonya Rockhouse, whose son Ben died in the mine, said the wait was incredibly frustrating, but she was more hopeful than ever of a prosecution.
"We always said that we wanted the job done properly and we've waited such a long time, we're prepared to wait," she said. "The police have done everything they can do to the best of their ability, so now that it's in the hands of crown law, the crown solicitor.
"We're just waiting with bated breath."
Rockhouse said the families' fight to stop the mine being sealed in 2016 and again 2021 was worth it. as police had since gathered more evidence from within the mine.
"With the additional boreholes, they've seen body images and, aside from everything else, we were told that they were dust. There's the definitive proof right there that they aren't dust, that there are intact bodies down there, so if nothing else, that's come out of it."
Rockhouse said, 15 years on, their message remained the same.
"Every New Zealander has the right to go to work and come home safely, safe in the knowledge that their employer has a safe working environment for them. That's everyone's right and that didn't happen in this case.
"It doesn't happen in a lot of cases and we're hoping to change that mindset in New Zealand as well."
Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton died at Pike River, was cautiously optimistic, but didn't want to get her hopes up.
"Hopefully, if there is a prosecution, they actually have the right people in the dock, because I don't just want one person to be a scapegoat. There's three or four people I'd love to see prosecuted for killing our men."
Osborne wants justice for those who lost their loved ones in the disaster and for all New Zealanders.
"The overwhelming support from the public that we have received over Pike has been really heartfelt and really appreciated," she said.
"I'm sure that whoever's making the decision will take into account that we've got a lot of people out there who feel that people do need to be held to account for this disaster and they deserve their day in court."
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