New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CORONERS ACT 1980 - SECT 13A

13A Deaths in custody etc examinable only by State Coroner or Deputy State Coroner

(1) A coroner who is the State Coroner or a Deputy State Coroner has jurisdiction to hold an inquest concerning the death or suspected death of a person if it appears to the coroner that the person has died or that there is reasonable cause to suspect that the person has died:

(a) while in the custody of a police officer or in other lawful custody, or while escaping or attempting to escape from the custody of a police officer or other lawful custody, or

(b) as a result of or in the course of police operations, or

(c) while in, or temporarily absent from, a detention centre within the meaning of the Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987 , a correctional centre within the meaning of the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 or a lock-up, and of which the person was an inmate, or

(d) while proceeding to an institution referred to in paragraph (c), for the purpose of being admitted as an inmate of the institution and while in the company of a police officer or other official charged with the person’s care or custody.

(2) If jurisdiction to hold an inquest arises under both this section and section 13, an inquest is not to be held except by the State Coroner or a Deputy State Coroner.