Former Supreme Court justice Malcolm Blue KC identified as man killed in tractor incident

The man killed in a farming accident at a property in Willunga South, on the Fleurieu Peninsula has been identified as a former Supreme Court Justice.

The scene of the tractor accident at Willunga South. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Former Supreme Court justice Malcolm Blue KC has been identified as the man killed in a farming incident on Saturday morning.

Justice Blue, who only stepped down from the state’s highest court last month, was killed on a property in Willunga South, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, in an incident involving a tractor.

Emergency services were alerted to an entrapment at around 10.50am, and despite the best efforts of paramedics, the 70-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

Supreme Court Judge Justice Malcolm Blue has died after a farming incident on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Picture: Dylan Coker

Justice Blue graduated from the University of Adelaide and was made a King’s Counsel in 2001.

He was appointed to the South Australian Supreme Court in 2011 and his role was taken over by Ben Doyle KC upon retirement last month.

Police and SafeWork SA are investigating the circumstances leading up to his death and a report is being prepared for the coroner.

Premier Peter Malinauskas is expected to address Justice Blue’s death on Sunday morning.

Shortly after the incident a blue tractor could be seen standing upright between vines located at the back of the property behind the main dwelling.

A tractor accident at Willunga South has turned fatal with a 70-year-old man dying at the scene. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Police are investigating the accident. Picture: Brett Hartwig

The tragedy comes after a 66-year-old man died in an accident on a farm in the state’s Mid North in late July.

Gavin ‘Bunny’ Abbott suffered serious injuries on a private property at Bungama, near Port Pirie, and later died in hospital.

In April, prominent Adelaide Hills fruit grower and grandfather Ashley Graham Mason, 92, died after a quad bike crash in Forest Range.

In February, an 87-year-old man was run over by an unmanned tractor in Glossop, about 235km from Adelaide. He died four days later in hospital.