Neighbour heard terrible noise before tree crushed man at Surrey Downs
A woman has described the devastating moment a tree fell on to the pergola of her neighbour, Surrey Downs man Wayne Couch, crushing him to death.
SA News
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A woman has described hearing a “terrible noise” as a tree fell on to her neighbour’s pergola, crushing him to death.
Wayne Couch, 57, was killed as he sat under the pergola of his home in the northeastern suburb of Surrey Downs about 9.15pm on Saturday night.
He had been entertaining friends at his Amanda Drive home when the shocking accident happened.
He died at the scene. Another man was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with minor injuries.
“It’s absolutely awful, there’s nothing you can say or do to make it better,” said Shirley Goodall, who had known the victim for 25 years.
“I heard a terrible noise, I thought, ‘The carport’s gone again,’ because it’s happened twice before.”
Ms Goodall said a branch from the same tree on Mr Couch’s property crushed her carport a decade ago.
Other neighbours and friends were in shock yesterday. Amanda Drive resident Felicity Willis, who had been friends with the victim for 11 years, said he was one of the kindest people in their tight-knit community.
“He was always so friendly, caring and happy. I remember telling him when I was having my second child and he burst into tears because he and his wife didn’t have any themselves,” Ms Willis said.
She said she was upset that a life had to be lost and wanted attention to be given to dangerous trees in the area.
“We’ve been out at our neighbour’s house before, a branch fell and just missed my daughter’s head when she was two,” she said.
Ms Goodall said the tree was infested with white ants, which had been treated by pest controllers.
“It shouldn’t come to this,” she said. “There’s got to be some common sense here, someone’s been killed now.”
Ms Goodall said she reported the issue to council via a phone call, but according to official council documents, no applications have been lodged on Amanda Drive for 15 years.
Lucas Jones, Deputy Mayor of the Tea Tree Gully Council, said the council would be assisting the Coroner in the investigation. He said he was shocked by the accident and called for a statewide audit of dangerous trees.
Mr Jones said there was “definitely” too much red tape involved in the process of applying to have deadly limbs or whole trees removed.
“When do you say enough is enough and do a full blown audit, as opposed to waiting for a tree to come down.
“I don’t think the residents should be up for the costs of it being removed. That would be pretty heartless,” he said.
Mr Jones said the family would need to put in a request to have the tree removed and councillors would vote on it before determining who footed the $10,000 to $20,000 bill.
He said the council had not yet received any development applications to prune a tree on private property in the near vicinity of the Amanda Drive accident.
Neighbours reported making complaints to Tea Tree Gully Council about the tree, but it did not have any formal record of them.
“As this is a private tree on private property, council may provide initial general advice to residents over the phone relating to such tree matters,” a council spokesman said.
“It is up to the resident whether they choose to log a formal request via a development application or not. Records are not kept of these initial verbal conversations.”
This is the second tragedy involving a fallen tree branch in a month. Judy Ditter, 59, from Crafers, was killed at Stirling on November 11, when a tree branch fell on her car.
A month ago, Judy Ditter, 59, from Crafers, was killed in a freak accident at Stirling when a tree branch fell on her car.
The much-loved grandmother and teacher at Seymour College was driving a white Toyota west on Mount Barker Road near Gould Road, when a branch fell on top of her car.
Judy was taking her daughter Phoebe, 26, to her car, who was with her when tragedy struck. Phoebe bravely paid tribute to her mother at her funeral service on Friday November 27.
The incident sparked calls for all South Australian councils to conduct an audit of trees overhanging busy roads.
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