On Cooper Onyett’s last day of school camp, his mother took home the backpack she sent him off with but not her precious boy.
The eight-year-old had slipped below the surface of the Belfast Aquatics Community Pool and Fitness Centre in Port Fairy as his classmates played.
Cooper Onyett (centre) with his older brother Jett and mother Skye Meinen. Cooper drowned at Port Fairy in 2021.
A swimmer saw Cooper at the bottom of the pool, waited a short time thinking he was holding his breath, then alerted staff when he didn’t come to the surface.
But it was too late. The year 2 student at Merrivale Primary School in Warrnambool died during his first overnight school camp in May 2021.
People in the County Court at Warrnambool wiped away tears on Friday as judge Claire Quin detailed how the tragedy had touched Cooper’s family and the school community in different ways.
Parents are now nervous about sending their children on excursions. There has been a “significant impact” on the students exposed to Cooper’s death at such a young age.
Cooper was a year 2 student at Merrivale Primary School in Warrnambool.
One parent said: “Even though previously I thought of camps as a wonderful opportunity they can experience with their friends, now it’s become a trigger and an anxious experience not just for me, but also for the children who show a lot of anxiety around attending camps.”
Quin’s voice shook when she read Skye Meinen’s victim impact statement recounting her final moments with her son before he was taken to the morgue.
“I got to comb his hair the way he liked it, and took one last look at my final baby before I kissed his forehead goodbye,” Meinen had written.
“At the end of the day, we only came home with a lock of his hair, some feet and handprints, his bag of belongings we sent with him and a lot of torment and emptiness.”
Quin convicted the Victorian Education Department and fined it $100,000 for breaching workplace safety laws over Cooper’s death.
She described the department’s breach as “serious” because it had failed to relay information collected about the children’s swimming skills to staff at the pool.
Quin stopped short of saying the breach had caused the death of Cooper, and said the department had demonstrated remorse.
“Clearly there was an inherent danger in the activity, with the potential consequences significant,” she found. “The failure to provide the information to [the pool staff] in this case was a serious breach.
“The department’s plea of guilty is indicative of remorse … [and] of sincere condolences and an acknowledgement of the enormous impact on the family and friends of Cooper, the school and local community in general.”
The management of Belfast and the Department of Education both pleaded guilty to breaching occupational health and safety laws by failing to do everything they could to ensure Cooper’s safety.
Belfast was convicted and fined $80,000. Quin said that even though its breach was more serious, the punishment was moderated by its status as a not-for-profit community pool.
Belfast also did not have a criminal history, but the Education Department has been convicted of other offences in the past.
Quin acknowledged that since the incident, the department had sought to fix the policy gap that meant the swimming information was not conveyed to pool staff.
“Schools are now required to assess students’ swimming abilities prior to the water activity being carried out,” she said.
“I was informed that parents can now be confident the information they provide to the school regarding their child’s swimming abilities will be provided to the relevant party involved in the swimming activity, [and] that there have been broader improvements generally to the guidance and resources as well.
“As far as this breach is concerned, the issue has been fully addressed.”
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