The bombshell came yesterday during the second week of Invercargill coroner Alexander Ho's inquest into the 2019 death of 3-year-old Lachie Jones.
Police quickly concluded that Lachie – who was wearing a high-vis vest and police hat when he went missing – had drowned after being found face up in a sewage pond more than a kilometer away from his home.
But during the hearing, witnesses were questioned about whether there was any foul play.
Towards the end of the day, Dave McKewen, who was animal control officer for Gore District Council in 2019, revealed stunning new evidence.
He said he saw a small person in high-vis with two other people who he thought were teenagers based on their size.
The witness said he saw the people about 300 yards away when he left the dog enclosure around 3:30 p.m.
“I always thought it was important,” the witness told counsel assisting coroner Simon Mount, QC.
'From the day we found out how [Lachie] died.”
During the inquest he explained that he never told the police about this because he was waiting to be asked to make a statement and senior management would have to give him permission.
He said he was overwhelmed with work at the time and therefore did not make a specific request to speak to police, but discussed what he saw during an unrelated work meeting.
“When I found out someone had died in the area, the next day I wrote in my work diary what I had seen,” Mr McKewen said.
He said he no longer had the notebook, which would have contained more details about the people he saw, when he threw it away during a move.
He said he only provided the information to the court because Max Simpkins, counsel for Lachie's father, Paul Jones, had contacted him about it.
Earlier in the day, Mr Simpkins asked Jade Vigers, a friend of Lachie's half-brother Jonathan, if he would help him if he was “in trouble”.
The witness said he regarded Mr Scott as a brother and would “absolutely” help him if he was in need.
“Johnny needed help that day because his brother had tragically died and I suggest you already knew Lachie had died,” Mr Simpkins said.
“You can imagine anything you want, but that doesn't make it true,” Vigers said.
Mr Simpkins also suggested the witness was involved in disposing of Lachie's body.
“You should be ashamed of yourself for saying that. It is disgusting,” Mr Vigers responded.
Kimberley Rogers was next in the witness box and explained that she was a 'best friend' of Lachie's mother, Michelle Officer, for seventeen years – although Mrs Officer disputed this in her evidence.
The witness said Lachie's mother told her her son left her the night he died.
“Well, that's really bizarre because she was fit and strong enough to keep up with that little guy… it doesn't make any sense at all,” Mrs. Rogers recalled thinking.
She said that after Lachie's death, she only saw Mrs. Officer become upset when Lachie's coffin was lowered.
“I didn't really see any tears or sadness,” Ms. Rogers said.
The witness explained that three weeks after the toddler's death, she cut ties with Ms. Agent “because of her lies.”
She described Lachie as bright and “so full of life”, but in the months before his death she noticed he had become “quite withdrawn”.
Mrs Rogers said she wondered if this was because his parents' relationship had broken down.
She told police she had had conversations with Lachie in a spiritual capacity since his death, but coroner Ho said evidence would be inadmissible.
She said she never saw Lachie run away from his parents, but he was fast and strong.
“You should definitely look at him,” she said.
The investigation continues today.