In the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the CTV building collapsed. 115 people were killed. A later inquiry found that the collapse of the building was due to its poor design and that it should never have been approved. The design engineer, David Harding, of Alan Reay Consultants Ltd, was singled out as the cause of this as he was "working beyond his competence." In other words, Harding killed those 115 people.
Today, the police decided that they wouldn't bother charging him or anyone else over those 115 deaths:
Police will not prosecute over the collapse of Christchurch's Canterbury Television (CTV) building.
That result is likely to displease some who lost relatives in the disaster and wanted justice and assurance the construction industry will work to compliance.
[...]
Police began a criminal inquiry in September 2014 and commissioned engineering consultants and soil specialists to examine the site's foundations.
Families were informed of the decision in a letter on Thursday.
In it, Detective Superintendent Peter Read said the inquiry "did identify significant deficiencies in the CTV building design" and police considered charges of negligent manslaughter, but concluded there was insufficient evident to provide "a reasonable prospect of conviction in court".
Really? Because the causal link here seems pretty fucking clear and documented. But the police have never been keen on prosecuting cases of social murder - just look at Pike River. And the conclusion we can draw from this is that they regard it as legal, and that people are free to kill again in this manner.
