The establishment of a bipartisan parliamentary committee to review the law that governs inquests into sudden deaths has been proposed by the Shadow Minister of Justice.

Scott Pearman said that the One Bermuda Alliance would be happy to work with the Government to probe whether amended legislation was needed to compel the senior magistrate and coroner to hold public fact-finding inquiries in certain circumstances, and to provide formal reasons for deciding not to hold an inquest.

The MP and lawyer told The Royal Gazette last week: “I’m familiar with inquests and the benefit that they can bring.

“An inquest is important not only for the answers that it can bring to the family of the deceased but it’s also important for what it can tell the public about how to prevent or reduce the level of deaths in the future.”

The Gazettereported last month that just four public inquests have been held in the past decade, a period when 981 sudden deaths were reported and reviewed by the senior magistrate and coroner.

There have been no public inquests during that time into more than 100 road deaths, 20-plus drownings and several workplace fatalities.

Mr Pearman, whose comments came before he was elected as the OBA’s deputy leader on Saturday, said: “You don’t need an inquest for the vast majority of [sudden] deaths.

“It’s a question of balance and this is a great example where a bipartisan approach to solving Bermuda’s problems would assist.”

He said the OBA would gladly help if Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, wanted the Opposition and Government to work together to review the Coroners Act 1938.

Section 10 of the legislation only requires coroners to hold an inquest when a person dies suddenly in custody or at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.

In most other circumstances, under Section 9, the need for an inquest can be dispensed with after a post-mortem, even if a grieving family wants one to take place.

Mr Pearman suggested that it could be useful to consider an amendment to Section 10 to empower relatives to compel the coroner to hold an inquest in certain circumstances, where there was an “unresolved issue” about the deceased’s death.

“You would probably want a preliminary hearing to determine that … but if a family wishes to have an inquest then I think that could be a route forward,” he said.

The politician added that it was also worth considering whether Section 9 should be changed to require the coroner to provide reasons publicly for dispensing with the need for an inquest.

“I think it should be discernible [to the public] from the court file that a decision was made and the reason was given.”

Mr Pearman echoed Chief Justice Larry Mussenden’s comment last month that inquests are inquisitorial, not adversarial.

“It’s intended to get to the bottom of the matter,” he said, adding that he would love to see the legislature working together on an issue that was “important to people’s lives”.

“I think a change such as this would probably be more important to people than some of the other things that have been taking up legislative and political bandwidth,” Mr Pearman added.

“I would be very happy to see how the Attorney-General wished to take this forward and if she would like to do so through a bipartisan committee.”

The island’s two most recent inquests, in 2023 and 2024, were for deaths in 2015 and 2018 respectively. They were both for deaths at Westgate.

Mr Justice Mussenden said last month that there were no dedicated staff to deal with the workload for “Section 10 deaths” and there was a lack of space in the courts for holding hearings.

Mr Pearman said last week that the court system being under-resourced was well documented.

He reiterated the OBA’s previous calls for the introduction of a graduated fee structure in the Commercial Court, with court fees linked to the value of the claim, to generate revenue.

He added that former senior magistrate and coroner Archibald Warner’s suggestion of a dedicated magistrate to deal with inquests was worthy of consideration.

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement last week: “The Government supports learning to prevent future deaths and improve public safety.

“The AG and Minister of Justice remains committed to working closely with the judicial department to address operational and resource challenges to facilitate full and robust inquiries when the circumstances demand it.”

• If you have suffered the sudden death of a loved one and want to share your views or experiences regarding inquests, please e-mail sstrangeways@royalgazette.com