A mother whose son died three years ago is still waiting for his inquest, which has now been cancelled three times.

Beverly Kozma was driving home after dinner when she saw an accident at the junction of Dundonald Street and Cedar Avenue in Hamilton in 2005. She had no idea that she was actually witnessing an accident involving her son Scott.

At the time a reserve Police officer told her that a young man, in his early 20s, had been in a collision 'at great speed' with a Police car. Ms. Kozma thought nothing more about it.

That was until she got home and received a call from the Police saying her son had been in an accident and she should come to the hospital.

Scott, 21, was pronounced dead at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital the next day and yet three years on Ms. Kozma has not received a death certificate or had any closure that an inquest might bring.

The last time it was cancelled, the inquest was due to take place on the third anniversary of her son's death two weeks ago.

She said: "You don't ever forget what happened, but they keep putting off the inquest. My lawyer called and said it was cancelled.

"That's what hurts. It's like they don't care. But it's important. This is my child. I need to find out what happened.

"This last time it was on the anniversary of his death. Why did they have to do it on those days? I was getting all geared-up to do it and then they postpone it.

"It's not fine. I know it's not going to be easy but it's really hard for them to keep telling me it's postponed. They are telling me it's not important, but it's important to me."

Scott, who was also known as "Sprocket" by his friends, had been working on a construction site and had taken a second job as a bartender at the Robin Hood pub.

On his first night at the Robin Hood job – April 30, 2005 – he had knocked-off early to go back to a friend's house to get a shirt for a party he was going to.

The family is not sure what happened after that, because there has not been an inquest, and Ms. Kozma claims they haven't even seen a Police report.

On Friday, Sergeant Adrian Cook, Assistant to the Coroner, said he apologised for the delay and the late notice of the cancellation of the inquest.

He said: "The complex cases will take a day or two in court. In this case the first adjournment was because there was something I could not avoid and that's when it got postponed to December last year.

"When the election was announced it was postponed to the middle of April and we were all set to go for the middle of April.

"It depends on how long it takes the investigation and submitting to the coroner's office. Then it depends on how long it takes me to write it up.

"The moment I tell the coroner about the death it's recorded, but it's not like in England which has its specially set-up Coroner's courts.

"We don't have that luxury here. In this instance there are logistic issues with a site visit needed and an overseas witness. I have to try to organise 12 witnesses so I have to plan six for one day and six for the second day."

Sgt. Cook also apologised for the late notice the family received for the latest cancellation saying they should have been informed as soon as he told the Coroner.

He has been in the post for two years, but also juggles it with his other duties on the Police force as do the investigating officers.

The other difficulty is relying on the Coroner's Act 1938, which needs updating, though Sgt. Cook said now families can get a preliminary death certificate before an inquest is held.

Because the inquest process is locked into the court system it can also be delayed by the adjournment of other cases or the lack of two free days in the calender.

For Ms. Kozma, however, each time the case is delayed it just brings back the night she lost her son.

"When Scott was little we lived in the States. We lived in Connecticut," she said, "It was like the two of us because I left his dad.

"All I ever wanted from him was that he got a good job. He didn't like school, but he was working construction.

"And he had finally gotten a second job. I don't think he realised how many people he had as friends. The church was packed.

"They held a slide show of his life. It was beautiful; it was really nice. They still go to his grave. I found a couple of them there last year.

"I see young boys coming in to pay their bills and I think that should be him doing that, but all you have is the pictures on the wall and in your heart."