‘Perfect storm’ caused dad’s death at a Bunnings warehouse

A coroner has handed down his findings into the “tragedy” that led to a father’s death at a Bunnings Warehouse.

A coroner has found a dad who might not have died if he had not been held in a headlock by security contractors at a Bunnings warehouse in Melbourne’s southeast.

Anthony Georgiou had stolen a saw blade from the Frankston store on September 12, 2016, when two Bunnings loss prevention officers (LPOs), Abdul Brenzai and George Oyee, attempted to stop him from getting away.

A three-minute struggle broke out and Mr Georgiou was put in a headlock by Mr Brenzai.

A witness heard him shouting “help me, help me, let me go” and Mr Georgiou said he could not breathe.

The 31-year-old fell unconscious and was taken to Frankston Hospital once emergency services arrived. He died the following day.

Victorian Coroner Darren Bracken found he would not have died if it was not for that struggle.

Anthony James Georgiou, known as AJ, died after an altercation with security guards at Bunnings in Frankston in September 2016.

He was just 31 years old.

“There seems little doubt that had Mr Georgiou not been involved in the struggle with Messrs Brenzai and Oyee he would have walked away from Bunnings that day,” he said in his report released on Tuesday.

“Such a conclusion is not a statement that anyone is, or may be, guilty of a criminal offence, nor is it a determination of civil liability but it ‘points up’ the most significant issue in the inquest – how the struggle involving Messrs Brenzai, Oyee and Mr Georgiou could have been avoided.”

“Mr Georgiou’s death was a tragedy for his family as well as for all others involved, including Messrs Brenzai and Oyee. Submissions from Mr Georgiou’s family are both poignant and thoughtful.

“Mr Georgiou’s family’s submissions refer to negligence on a number of occasions. As I referred to above, this court has no role in deciding any civil liability and so issues of negligence cannot be here decided.”

Forensic pathologist Heinrich Bouwer conducted Mr Georgiou’s autopsy and determined his cause of death was “complications of methylamphetamine use in the setting of physical restraint in a man with cardiomegaly” (an enlarged heart).

He said the incident that occurred at Bunnings that day was “acutely relevant to the cause and mechanism of death”.

Victorian Coroner Darren Bracken said a ‘perfect storm’ led to Anthony Georgiou’s death. Picture: David Caird

The two LPOs said they approached Mr Georgiou near the store’s doors and told him they thought he had stolen items in his pocket. But he ignored them and aggressively told them to “f**k off”.

He was then told that he was under arrest, but Mr Georgiou continued to walk away.

“The guy just ignored us and kept walking. I was on the guy’s right side behind his shoulder and I tried to grab him across his chest with my right arm and place a leg behind him to try and get him to the ground, but he was so strong that when I grabbed him he lifted me up,” Mr Oyee said.

Mr Brenzai had his arm around Mr Georgiou’s neck from behind before both of the LPOs wrestled him to the ground.

Mr Brenzai recalled Mr Georgiou saying words to the effect that he could not breathe. Mr Brenzai told him that he would let him go if he didn’t “throw punches or kicks”.

Upon Mr Georgiou being let up, a Bunnings staff member gave him a bottle of water.

Mr Oyee said Mr Georgiou sat up against a wall and was breathing heavily before he slowly fell to his left side.

The physical force the LPOs used went against Bunnings’ code of conduct. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Bunnings’ code of conduct makes it clear that the LPOs violated its rules by using force to arrest Mr Georgiou.

But Mr Bracken found the duo had neither seen the code or attended the relevant training, despite purportedly signing Bunnings code of conduct documents.

“Whilst Bunnings had the code of conduct documents purportedly signed by Messrs Brenzai and Oyee and relied upon them as evidence of Messrs Brenzai and Oyee knowing of their obligations under the code, the evidence is such that I am not satisfied that Messrs Brenzai and Oyee were aware of those obligations as at 12 September 2016,” he said.

The store manager took no active part in the struggle. They watched it but did not intervene before locking the store and calling emergency services once it had finished.

They said the training Bunnings had given them was to not to get involved with LPOs when they are dealing with possible thefts.

“My role is to very much to keep our team and our customers’ safe, to not get involved, and to call police when required,” they said.

“I’m not trained from a security point of view … so I am unaware how the gentleman or how the LPOs handle these situations and what is right and what is wrong.”

The Bunnings store manager did not intervene during the struggle. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

The coroner made three recommendations for Bunnings, including to consider training store managers on supervising LPOs, especially during physical confrontations.

Mr Bracken said the warehouse chain should record LPOs details as well, including their names and all their interactions, so they can periodically review their performance.

He also agreed with an expert risk management consultant’s recommendation that Bunnings should include “refresher training” for LPOs.

The consultant said this training should be broad and emphasise communication that affects the way people think, especially under stress.

Bunnings operations director Ryan Baker said the company would review the coroner's recommendations.

“We’re aware of the findings of the Victorian Coroners Court regarding this matter and our thoughts are with Mr Georgiou’s family at this time,” he said.

“We recognise this matter has been an exhaustive process and will review the coroner’s recommendations in detail.”

Originally published as ‘Perfect storm’ caused dad’s death at a Bunnings warehouse