CTV families vow to 'keep fighting' following police meeting over criminal charges

Thursday, 14 December 2017

Police and Crown lawyers met CTV families in Christchurch on Thursday.

Many families of Canterbury Television (CTV) building collapse victims will 'keep fighting' after a meeting with police and Crown Law about the decision not to press charges over the tragedy.

Police announced this month they would not be pursuing criminal charges against engineer David Harding or his boss Alan Reay over design deficiencies in the building that contributed to its collapse in the February 2011 earthquake, killing 115 people.

Maan Alkaisi has resolved to 'keep fighting' following a meeting with police about their decision not to press charges over the CTV building collapse.

They, along with Deputy Solicitor-General Brendon Horsley and Christchurch Crown Prosecutor Mark Zarifeh, met families at the Avonhead Baptist Church on Thursday to answer questions about the case. Many families had been upset by the decision not to prosecute and may seek a judicial review.

**READ MORE:

Families protested the police decision at a rally in Latimer Square, near the CTV site, on Sunday.

* CTV building tragedy timeline: How a prosecution became no prosecution

* CTV building collapse case judicial review possible

Detective Superintendent Peter Read says the CTV investigation has been a 'very, very difficult inquiry'.

* Police will not prosecute over CTV collapse

* CTV:115

* CTV victims' families seek meeting with Prime Minister over lack of criminal charges**

Afterwards, Maan Alkaisi, whose wife Maysoon Abbas died in the collapse, said the 'intense' discussion left him unconvinced.

'I'm now determined to go ahead and keep fighting until justice is done. Because after listening to other family members it is clear that the arguments put by police is not convincing.

'They called [the prosecution case] 'finely balanced'. Finely balanced means 50-50. This is where things should go to court to sort, not somewhere in a room in Wellington.'

Karen Selway, who lost her sister Susan, said she got few answers out of the meeting.

'Either the response was 'That's a very difficult point' or 'That's highly complex' or 'That really sits with someone else'. There's lots of questions that are still unanswered.

'We live in a country where there will be more earthquakes and with the way things sit at the moment with the current legal system and accountability that falls out of that we have some really significant issues.'

The families will meet Justice Minister Andrew Little on Sunday and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the new year.

'We will ask [Little] for law reforms to prevent something like this from happening again. To prevent families from waiting seven years to hear that there's no resolution,' Alkaisi said.

Seventy-four of the collapse victims were from overseas. Alkaisi said since the police decision was announced he had heard from many families in the Philippines, Japan, Australia and around New Zealand endorsing his vow to keep fighting.

The police decision came after advice from Crown Law, signed by Horsley, that there was not enough evidence. Prior to that, police favoured prosecution.

Investigation head Detective Superintendent Peter Read said on Thursday police covered 'as much ground as we possibly could' in the meeting. The decision not to prosecute was final, he said.

'I think it was really good to sit down with the families and have that discussion.

'It's been a very, very difficult inquiry, a lot of emotions involved. It has been tough.'

Read will travel to Tokyo next week to meet families of Japanese victims of the collapse.