Sonya Rockhouse: Pike River family member says police have enough evidence to lay manslaughter charges

Hopes that those responsible for the Pike River mine disaster will finally be held accountable. 

Police believe they have sufficient evidence to prosecute certain people for manslaughter. 

This week marks 15 years since 29 men died in the West Coast mine tragedy. 

Sonya Rockhouse, whose son died, told Ryan Bridge Police have done their job and now it's a waiting game for justice. 

She says they've always had enough evidence but more has been gathered in extensive forensic investigations over the years. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The lawyers representing the Park River families think police have
enough evidence to lay corporate manslaughter charges fifteen years after
the tragedy. Sonya rock House and Anna Osborne have called
a meeting with Brook van Velden a complete waste of time.
They were at Parliament this week. Sonya rock House sadly
lost her son Ben in the tragedy and joins me. Now, Sonya,
good morning, good morning, Sonya.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, they've always had enough evidence. Like before, when the
charges were first talked about with the they had enough
evidence way back then. So I don't know he could
a lot about it. Obviously, the police don't talk to
us about that stuff. So yeah, we just know that

(00:48):
there's been a whole lot of other evidence has been
gathered over the years. They did an extensive forensic scope
of the drift, spent several months doing that and.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, and Sonya, the problem was initially that their work
Safe was doing an investigation, weren't they They were looking
at charges and the police are looking at charges, and
the police went, oh, well we can't both charge them,
so you can do it, and then they did a deal.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, that's correct, So the police were going to charge
and then WorkSafe said they were going to charge, so
the police backed off and then WorkSafe walked away. So
nobody did it. So and the reason that they yes, exactly,

(01:42):
the reason that they did it was that Peter Whittle's
insurance company paid the family three point four one million
in exchange for the charges being dropped. So checkbook justice basically.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Sonya, do you know if there's any new evidence being
found or is this all old evidence?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I don't know. The police, Like I said, the police
haven't talked to us about it because anything you know
that we don't want to prejudice possible future prosecutions. So
I all I know is that over the last few years,
up until it was settled again, they collected lots and

(02:30):
lots of stuff to put forward to Crown, the Crown solicitor.
So you know, the police, like us, just have to
sit back and wait. Now they've done their job as
best as they can do it, and we've done everything
that we can and now we just have to sit
back and wait for the big decision for the prosecutors.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Now, it's been a few years since I've spoken to you, Sonya.
How are you doing? Are you ever at peace? I
saw your at Parliament the other day. Is this torture,
you know? Is this still torture every day for you?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
No, it's not torture every day. Yesterday was a tough day.
Anna and I actually went up to Caate I think
it's Kate Shepherd Park in Wellington. Oh, yes, and there's
a seat up there that's been dedicated to Helen Kelly.
So we sat there just before the three point forty

(03:28):
four and then watched it, watch the time, and then
just tailed hands and closed our eyes and thought about
our men because of course we were away and that
felt really strange. But you know, we sort of took
solace in the fact that Anna and I were together,
which we normally are on the anniversary anyway, but just

(03:49):
not up in Wellington, up at Parliament. Yeah. I mean
it's been fifteen years. It still hurts every day. You know,
I've missed out on fifteen years of my son's life.
He was twenty one when he was killed and he
would now be thirty six. So yeah, I think it

(04:11):
still hurts. Of course, it hurts, but you learned, you know,
it's just it's just buried now, and on days like yesterday,
of course it comes out and we're still very very
passionate about, you know, getting truth, justice and accountability. That
will never go away. That passion is always there and
the pain as well. So the movie's definitely given us

(04:35):
a little bit of a list because you know, it's
we're very proud of it. I don't know whether you've
seen it or not, but I have.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
I interviewed the director as well, and one of them, yes, yeah, no, no,
great movie, sonya. We have to leave it there. Thank
you for coming on, and best of luck with the
with the prosecutors. You know, I know your fingers and
totally crossed for that. For more from earlier edition with
Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talk Set B from

(05:04):
five a m. Weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio