A person’s death can be untimely and may occur under unusual circumstances. You may ask yourselves, “who conducts the investigations into these deaths?”and “What if I’m not satisfied with the investigator’s findings?”. We have written a two-part series to answer your two queries. The first part outlines the legislative framework of investigating a person’s death. The second part is drawn from our own successful experience in the Supreme Court of Western Australia for an application for a limited post-mortem examination.[1]
A coroner has jurisdiction to investigate a death if it appears that the death is or may be a reportable death.[2] A reportable death is defined as a Western Australian death ‘that appears to have been unexpected, unnatural or violent or to have resulted, directly or indirectly, from injury’.[3] A coroner is not required to investigate, or continue to investigate, a reportable death if the coroner determines that the death is due to natural causes and the death is reportable solely because it appears to have been unexpected.[4] However, a death in custody must be reported to a coroner[5] and an inquest is mandatory.[6]
The coroner also has extra-territorial jurisdiction. This means that the coroner can investigate deaths where the deceased was normally resident within Western Australia and died elsewhere.[7]
When a coroner is investigating a death, the coroner must find, if possible:[8]
- the identity of the deceased; and
- how the death occurred; and
- the cause of death; and
- the particulars needed to register the death under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998 (WA).
It is interesting to note that the coroner is not under a duty to make a finding in relation to how the death occurred.[9] If a coroner does make any comments or findings, the coroner must not make a determination of any question of civil liability or suggest that a person is guilty of an offence.[10]
Experiencing a death of our loved one is a difficult time. Especially when questions are left unanswered—sometimes these answered are needed for our closure. In our next article we discuss the available avenues when you are not satisfied with the coroner’s finding.
[1] Smith v State Coroner of Western Australia [2020] WASC 335.
[2] Coroners Act 1993 (WA) s 19(1).
[3] Ibid s 3.
[4] Ibid s 19A.
[5] Ibid s 17(5).
[6] Ibid 22(1)(c)
[7] Ibid s 3.
[8] Ibid s 25(1).
[9] Ibid s 25(1A).
[10] Ibid 25(5).