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Police refused to search, inquest told

The son of a man who died while stranded in the Northern Goldfields said he felt like a “biscuit” being passed around by police officers and wasn’t getting any help.

This came on the second day of the inquest into the death of Mr Harris, 73, who died about 60km south of Laverton between February 2 and 3, 2010.

Mr Harris went to an area near the Sunrise Dam gold mine for a day-trip of hunting, but his car became bogged and he died while walking back towards town.

His son, Mr Harris Junior, told the Kalgoorlie Coroner’s Court he had spoken to his father on the phone from Warburton the day he left for his trip.

Later that afternoon he tried to ring his father’s home in Laverton, but found he had not returned.

This led to three calls to Laverton police, with phone records showing he made the calls at 3pm, 6.20pm and 8.17pm.

Mr Harris Jnr told the court he at first asked for the officers to drive past his father’s home, but later asked them to go looking for him. In his interview transcript with Internal Affairs investigators, he said he raised his concerns because his father had not been well and was supposed to return in a day.