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Gordon Matenga - Source: ONE News -
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The families of the victims of the February 22 earthquake do not have to be part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry if they choose not to be.
Coroner Gordon Matenga, who is presiding over this week's inquest, says families can decide if they want him to rule on the death and close the case, or leave it until after the Inquiry.
Matenga says a number of questions still need to be answered around some of the victims' deaths.
He says one of those issues is the contribution the rescue effort may have made to the deaths of one or two people.
Further investigation needs to be done in that regard, but will take some time, he said.
The families of the 181 victims will receive a letter in the next few weeks asking if they want to remain a part of the Inquiry.
The inquest, which got underway yesterday, picked up where it left off in June, when it was disrupted by a series of large aftershocks.
Matenga looked at the deaths of 13 CTV employees yesterday and found that some may have survived the collapse of the building and died later.
But he says remaining questions about the deaths of those people will have to wait until the Royal Commission has conducted its inquiry.
The inquest heard emotional testimony from family members of the deceased who also raised fresh questions about the safety of the building.
In a recorded testimony, CTV victim Gillian Sayers' sister claims Gillian's boss at Kings Education asked her to breach the cordon after the September quake.
"Gillian and some of the staff were frightened and refused to go into the building," the inquest heard.
"She thought the building felt different after the September quake."
The coroner will examine the deaths of 64 Kings College students today.
Tomorrow, the cases of the 18 Pyne Gould Corporation building victims will be heard and on Thursday and Friday people who died across the city will be ruled on.
ONE News reporter Max Bania said that after the police read out their statement, the coroner rules on cause of death and a death certificate is issued.
He said the process gives families a sense of legal closure and allows them to pursue wills and estates.
"But by nature it is a very sombre occasion, but the families we have spoken to say a lot of catharsis can come out of it.
"It is very harrowing, very painful to hear about those last moments of their loved ones but at the same time it can give a sense of finality," he said.
All victims' families are invited to attend the hearings and there are police present at the back of the hearing to answer questions.
Police have an individual file for each victim and families are free to peruse them.
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