State coroner’s original order upheld after constable refuses to give evidence at inquest into death of Elijah Holcombe

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A New South Wales police officer who shot dead a mentally ill young man and then refused to testify at his inquest must now give evidence after he lost an appeal.

Earlier this year, Senior Constable Andrew Rich refused to enter the witness box at the Sydney inquest into the death of 24-year-old Elijah Holcombe.

Rich shot Holcombe dead in a laneway at Armidale in northern NSW on 2 June 2, 2009, after Holcombe allegedly threatened him with a bread knife.

Holcombe, who suffered from paranoid delusions and was afraid of police, had not committed any crime and had checked himself out of hospital earlier that morning.

The inquest has heard Rich chased after Holcombe and fired his weapon within seconds of ordering Holcombe to put the knife down.

Rich's assertion that he shot Holcombe in self-defence was bolstered by a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last year not to charge him over the shooting.

When an inquest into Holcombe's death resumed before NSW state coroner Mary Jerram in March this year, however, Rich refused to give evidence.

He cited several reasons, including that the Commissioner of Police might take action against him, that he might face civil liability over Holcombe's death or the DPP might use his evidence to pursue a case against him.

Jerram ordered Rich to give evidence, saying the shooting of a mentally ill young man was "sadly, not an isolated incident".

"Questions arise inevitably of whether police are being sufficiently trained in and made aware of the discrete needs of mentally ill persons and methods of dealing with them," Jerram said in her judgment last April.

"Was Senior Constable Rich aware that Elijah had not been scheduled under the Mental Health Act and had left the hospital voluntarily?

"Did Senior Constable Rich believe that he had a right ... to detain Elijah and return him to the hospital?

"If not, why did he chase after Elijah?

"These are significant issues which require further exploration."

Rich appealed against the coroner's decision in the Supreme Court, which dismissed his case in July.

He then took his case to the Court of Appeal but in a judgment handed down on Monday, the three-judge panel found Jerram had properly considered the question of risk from Rich's potential evidence.

They dismissed the constable's appeal and the inquest into Holcombe's death is expected to resume next year.