Dreamworld deaths: Heartless posts by theme park contractor
UPDATE: A heartless Dreamworld sub-contractor caught making fun of Tuesday’s shocking fatal accident on social media has this morning defended his comments.
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A HEARTLESS Dreamworld sub-contractor has been caught making fun of the shocking fatal accident on social media.
Benn Rattray posted a link to a story about the tragedy on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after four people died, with the caption “Oops, I knew I forgot something”.
The Dreamworld contractor, who posted that he was responsible for building the rides, later joked about forgetting to tighten the conveyor belt on the deadly ride.
“Just heading back to Dreamworld to tighten up the conveyor belt . Was supposed to do it after smoko but forgot …” he posted.
The state Coroner has been called in to investigate the tragedy, which is expected to focus on the conveyor belt and a possible malfunction. Dreamworld has denied safety standards were not met at the park.
Mr Rattray yesterday posted: “On a positive note ... At least they died having fun ...” A friend responded: “I knew these people ... Their kids aren’t laughing.”
On October 18, the man uploaded a picture of an email after completing Dreamworld’s safety induction, adding that he was a ride builder at the park.
This morning he told news.com.au that he would apologise to the families of those killed, but he didn’t understand why people were making a “big fuss about it?”
“Yes I made those comments to my friends, I make inappropriate jokes all the time,” he said.
“(I make) 9/11 jokes to piss off the yanks, religious jokes to piss off the religious nuts and the comments about forgetting to tighten the conyeyor was my bulls**t response to my friends who had tagged me in a post.
“Why is everyone making a big fuss about it?”
He said he understands that some people would consider his humour insensitive but believes that’s “the nature of adult humour”.
“Fat people get offended by fat jokes, black people get offended by black jokes, religious nuts get offended by religious jokes. But on the same token, fat people also laugh about fat jokes, black people also laugh at black jokes and the occasional (religious person) can laugh at their fragile beliefs.”
A spokeswoman for Ardent Leisure yesterday confirmed the man was a contractor, but was not able to confirm what form of work he did.
“We are horrified and sickened by these Facebook posts and have made contact with his employer and asked them to remedy the situation,” she said.
It was unclear if the man would continue to do work at Dreamworld.
Mr Rattray did not return calls from The Courier-Mail despite several attempts to contact him.
