Inquest into death of 20-year-old Gloriavale man opens
A coroner’s inquest into the sudden death of a 20-year-old man in the Gloriavale Christian Community has opened in Greymouth.
Sincere Standtrue died on November 2, 2018 in Christchurch Hospital.
Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame opened the inquest in the Greymouth District Court on Monday by saying she had read all the evidence and looked at photos and videos of Standtrue and offered her condolences to his family.
She said she knew Standtrue was loved and his loss was felt deeply.
While people were free to practise their chosen religion, she would make findings about what life was like for Standtrue and how it affected him, she said.
The difference in opinion on the way of life in Gloriavale had led to division in families, including Standtrue’s, she noted.
The lawyer for Standtrue’s parents, Marcus Zintl, read a note from them and pointed out photos the family had placed in court.
“You are loved and missed every day. Losing you is the hardest thing. We were so grateful for the time we had with you,” he read.
Counsel assisting the coroner Nathan Laws said Standtrue was born on January 27, 1998, in Gloriavale and was the eldest of 10 children.
He began working in 2013, at age 15, in the community’s paint shop as a painter.
When he was 20, on October 23, 2018, he was working on his own in the paint shop. Community member John Ben Canaan, who has since died, went to the paint shop at 4.20pm to borrow a hammer.
He described Standtrue as “giving him his normal happy grin” but when he went to return the hammer at 5.10pm he found Standtrue unresponsive.
He ran outside and yelled for help, some help arrived and Standtrue was carried from the paint shop out to the lawn. He did not have a pulse and CPR was commenced. A defibrillator was located but its battery was flat.
A rescue helicopter arrived at 5.40pm and paramedics found him in the recovery position and breathing on his own. He was taken to Greymouth Hospital at 6.01pm and then to ICU in Christchurch the next day where his neurological prognosis was assessed as poor. He died on November 2, 2018.
Laws said the coroner would examine the circumstances from Standtrue’s birth to his last known interaction, what happened from when he was last spoken to and found by Ben Canaan and what happened from when he was found to when paramedics arrived and the medical care he received.
She would also look at causes of his death.
The issues for the coroner were what was his cause of death medically, what were the circumstances that led to his death and what was his state of mind.
She would look at whether he was bullied, physically disciplined, and whether he was satisfied with how his life was progressing within the markers of the community.
She would look into whether he was coping with the community set up and whether he was subjected to harmful sex behaviour and whether that influenced his actions or state of mind.
Laws said the coroner would determine whether his death was a suicide, and if he had any developmental delays that rendered him incapable of determining the consequences of his actions.
She would also determine if his death was not a suicide, whether it was as a result of an accident from an activity practised by some within the community or as a result of toxin exposure and if that affected his ability to recover.
Laws said there would 52 witnesses including current and former members of the community, emergency services personnel and three medical witnesses: a forensic pathologist, a toxicologist, a neuro-radiologist. The coroner would also visit the community and view the paint shop.
The lawyer for Standtrue’s sister Rose, Brian Henry, requested the coroner examine the issue of suicidal ideation triggered by life events and family history.
He asked the coroner to extend the site visit to view the accommodation that Standtrue was living in, which was a very small room for the whole family and later an adult male room, which Henry said Standtrue was sent to as a punishment. He said the over-crowding at Gloriavale was relevant to mental health of community members.
“It is well known that the parents activities are seen by the children that’s a feature of how the rooms are set up,” he said.
Community leader Peter Righteous said the living arrangements had changed since Standtrue lived there but the coroner said she would look at the bedroom.
The inquest continues this week and resumes for two weeks in August.