{"id":472220,"date":"2026-02-11T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472220\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T06:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:00:09","slug":"no-body-worn-video-evidence-available-for-inquest-into-krista-kachs-death-coroner-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472220\/","title":{"rendered":"No body-worn video evidence available for inquest into Krista Kach’s death, coroner hears"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New South Wales coroner will need to rely on eyewitness accounts due to an absence of police body-worn camera footage during an inquest into the death of a Newcastle woman more than two years ago.<\/p>\n

Krista Li-Chin Kach, 47, died after being tasered and hit in the heart by a beanbag round at the end of a 10-hour stand-off with police on September 14, 2023.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police at the scene of Krista Kach’s death. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Beanbag rounds, described as a “less-than-lethal option”, are commonly used by law enforcement to de-escalate situations without the use of deadly ammunition.<\/p>\n

At the time Ms Kach’s family criticised the actions of police, who said they acted after being threatened with an axe.<\/p>\n

State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan is presiding over an inquest into the manner and cause of Ms Kach’s death.<\/p>\n

A directions hearing was held today.<\/p>\n

No body-worn camera footage<\/p>\n

Ms Kach’s family’s solicitor, Elliot Rowe, told the court there was no body-worn video evidence.<\/p>\n

“There are a number of matters I’d like you to consider and that is the centrality of the witness evidence,” Mr Rowe said.<\/p>\n

“They clearly are very important witnesses in this inquest, being tactical officers present at the time, they are primary eyewitnesses.”<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police at the scene at Mitchell Street in Stockton, where Krista Kach died after being hit by a beanbag round.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

He said the coroner would rely heavily on their accounts of what happened.<\/p>\n

“This is a case where there is an absence of objective type of evidence, such as body-worn video,” Mr Rowe said.<\/p>\n

“So it heightens the reliance on the evidence of their testimony.<\/p>\n

“There is a strong public interest in these witnesses coming to court to give evidence.”<\/p>\n

NSW Police officer are required to wear body-worn cameras and are advised of certain circumstances where they “should” rather than “must” turn them on.<\/p>\n

The Law Enforcement Commission has recommended<\/a> that officers “must” turn on their body-worn cameras before using their powers.<\/p>\n

Voluminous police brief<\/p>\n

Counsel assisting the coroner, Sophie Callan SC, told the inquest an extensive brief of evidence had been finalised.<\/p>\n

“It comprises of 10 volumes of paper material and there are 48 tabs of electronic material,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan is presiding over the two-week inquest into Krista Kach’s death. (Supplied: NSW Courts)<\/p>\n

The coroner was told there would be multiple witnesses, including two tactical response officers who were at the scene.<\/p>\n

The court heard both police officers had given statements but had made a submission to the coroner asking to be excused from giving evidence in person.<\/p>\n

Details of their submission cannot be disclosed for legal reasons.<\/p>\n

Police submission<\/p>\n

Mr Rowe told the coroner both police officers could take frequent breaks if they gave evidence in person.<\/p>\n

Ms Callan said both agreed to reply to any questions in writing and told the hearing she did not oppose the application.<\/p>\n

“Having regard to absence of objective evidence such as body-worn video, it is my submission there is a fairly compelling body of evidence as to both officers,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There is a sound basis for the [officers’] applications to be upheld.”<\/p>\n

Ms Callen said the inquest would hear evidence regarding “NSW Police’s current position in respect of body-worn video cameras worn by tactical officers”.<\/p>\n

Ms O’Sullivan will rule on the police application to be excused from giving in-person evidence by Friday.<\/p>\n

The evidence<\/p>\n

Beanbag rounds \u2014 sometimes known as Super Sock rounds \u2014 are small, pillow-like fabric sacks filled with lead balls that are placed inside cartridges and typically fired out of a 12-gauge shotgun.<\/p>\n

The coroner was told there would be evidence presented about the manufacture of the Super Sock firearm used to fire the round that killed Ms Kach.<\/p>\n

A UK police expert on sieges and the use of firearms in police responses to mental health-related critical incidents will also give evidence.<\/p>\n

Ms Callen said evidence from NSW Health had also been sought in regard to a “co-responder model that is utilised in the Hunter New England Health District” in relation to responses to mental health emergencies in the community.<\/p>\n

Two weeks has been set aside from the inquest, which begins next month. Hearings will be held at Newcastle Courthouse and Lidcombe in Sydney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New South Wales coroner will need to rely on eyewitness accounts due to an absence of police…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,240867,240873,240870,240871,240872,240869,219859,4277,240874,85,240868,236465],"class_list":["post-472220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beanbag-rounds","tag-body-worn-cameras","tag-krista-kach","tag-krista-kach-death","tag-krista-kach-inquest","tag-less-than-lethal-ammunition","tag-nsw-coroners-court","tag-nsw-police","tag-nsw-police-body-camera-rules","tag-sports","tag-super-sock-rounds","tag-teresa-osullivan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}