A coroner has criticised Tasmania's former attorney-general after finding no evidence a woman who hit and killed her on-off partner while drink-driving and speeding did so deliberately.
Elise Archer ordered an inquest into the death of 26-year-old Jari Wise after a long public and legal campaign by his mother Faith Tkalac who had appealed to the Supreme Court against coroner Simon Cooper's decision not to hold an inquest.
Tasmania's attorney-general intervened in mid-2023 after Ms Tkalac's appeal failed.
Delivering his findings on Monday, Mr Cooper said Ms Archer's intervention had undermined the Supreme Court and his initial conclusions had not changed.
Mr Wise was struck by a car driven by Melissa Oates at Huonville, south of Hobart, in the early hours of February 29, 2020.
Oates was sentenced in 2021 to 14 months' jail, with six months suspended, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.
Mr Cooper said Oates was speeding at 110km/h in a 50km/h zone and was three times above the legal blood-alcohol limit.
"She was plainly very intoxicated. She should never have been driving," Mr Cooper said.
He noted Oates' driving was impaired because she was not wearing glasses, a condition of her licence.
But he ruled there was insufficient evidence to support the conclusion Oates saw Mr Wise before she turned onto the road where she hit him.
There was also a "complete absence" of reliable evidence proving Mr Wise jumped into her path.
"There is no evidence that supports a conclusion Ms Oates deliberately ran Mr Wise over," Mr Cooper said.
Speaking outside court, Ms Tkalac said her feelings were mixed and she would speak with lawyers about potential next steps.
"(The coroner) said ‘yes, Jari didn’t jump in front of Melissa’s car’. That’s what I wanted," she said.
"(But the coroner has) just left it up in the air again."
Mr Wise and Oates, one of multiple people to give evidence at the inquest, had been in a "volatile" relationship.
The pair had been drinking together in the lead-up to the crash at a friend's house where they had an argument.
Oates didn't stop after hitting Mr Wise but drove back to the friend's house and said "you’ve got to help me, I think I’ve hit something or someone and I hope it’s not Jari".
Mr Cooper rejected Oates' evidence she did not know she had hit Mr Wise, noting she told the friend "hit the c***" in reference to him.
The coroner described Oates' evidence as "evasive and vague" but noted she was "grossly intoxicated" at the time of the accident.
Mr Cooper labelled the attorney-general's intervention as "concerning".
"The exercise of the power resulted in no positive outcome for the administration of justice by the holding of this inquest," Mr Cooper said.
"Further, it had the effect of publicly undermining the role of the Supreme Court."
In late 2023, legislation dubbed "Jari's law" requiring coroners to examine deaths where family violence contributed was passed by Tasmania's lower house.
Mr Cooper was critical of the legislation, saying it would double the number of public inquests, cause significant delays to a strained system and increase trauma.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
