Al Noor mosque in Christchurch. File photo. Photo: NurPhoto
The role of a lawyer working on the coronial inquiry into the Christchurch mosque attacks has been adjusted due to a perceived conflict of interest.
Some families of victims of the 2019 attacks believe Alysha McClintock, who is a partner of Meredith Connell, is too close with police and needed to be replaced.
Meredith Connell is an Auckland Crown solicitor's firm.
McClintock was appointed in mid-2020 by the former chief coroner into the coronial inquiry into each of the 51 deaths resulting from the Christchurch Masjid attacks on 15 March, 2019.
Coroner Brigitte Windley dismissed an application in the Christchurch Coroner's Court to remove McClintock, but decided her role will be modified in the inquiry.
Coroner Brigitte Windley has modified lawyer Alysha McClintock's role in the inquiry. Photo: POOL / STUFF LTD
Lawyers of the families contended a spate of high-profile miscarriage of justice decisions has highlighted a too cosy relationship between her firm, which is the Auckland Crown solicitor, and police.
They argued that many in the Muslim community do not trust the police because of the way they were treated before and at the time of the Christchurch attacks.
A number of the immediate families were highly critical of some aspects of the way the police responded to the attack, with their lawyer describing them as "widely aggrieved".
Aarif Rasheed, who represented some of the families, outlined in his submission of the financial relationship between the police and Crown solicitors, describing the relationship between Meredith Connell and the Crown as "an unprecedented commercial arrangement which has spanned generations and gained a sense of permanence".
He submitted that McClintock's retention as counsel assisting would detrimentally affect the interests of the applicants and other immediate families and would compromise the overall integrity of the inquiry.
McClintock's lawyer has rejected the conflict of interest claims, and said the families' mistrust does not disqualify McClintock from the role.
The coroner said the application "in no way alleged any misconduct" by McClintock.
Coroner Windley said she was satisfied that the conflict threshold, that would require the removal of McClintock - and thereby Meredith Connell - from the role of counsel assisting the inquiry had not been met.
"I acknowledge the concerns of the applicants, and their intense interest in ensuring the integrity of the coronial process and consequently its outcome."
It was decided McClintock's responsibilities would be adjusted, in that she will not cross-examine any police witness in the first phase inquest, nor will she provide the coroner with any "formal or informal" advice regarding the conduct of the police.
In her decision, Coroner Windley said there was no basis to suggest McClintock might be privy to any "inside information" beyond that which former Crown prosecutors or experienced criminal barristers might reasonably be expected to carry.
"Moreover, there is no basis to suggest that Ms McClintock must have knowledge of particular police operational matters that are of specific relevance to the issues for this inquiry."