Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy: Defence witnesses to give evidence
The trial into the jumping castle tragedy at Hillcrest Primary School that killed six children continues for day eight with defence witnesses taking to the stand. Follow for updates.
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The magistrate presiding over the criminal hearing into the Hillcrest tragedy has expressed concern that all the evidence will not be heard before it is scheduled to finish.
Taz-Zorb owner Rosemary Gamble has pleaded not guilty to one count of failure to comply with health and safety duty category 2 in relation to the events at Hillcrest Primary School in December 2021, where six children died after a jumping castle was flung 10m into the air.
The nine-day criminal hearing into the tragedy was meant to finish today.
However, Magistrate Robert Webster has expressed doubt that it will wrap up by then and is considering when to have extrasitting dates.
Magistrate Webster said he would like to have all the evidence heard before Christmas.
Mechanical engineer David Eager was the only person to take the witness stand on day eight of the hearing.
He told the court on Thursday that even if Ms Gamble had used 20 pegs to hold down the jumping castle, the outcome would not have changed.
Only four pegs were used to hold down the jumping castle despite there being eight anchor points.
Ms Gamble’s lawyer, Chris Dockray, asked Dr Eager if using eight pegs would have prevented the jumping castle from becoming airborne during the weather event at Hillcrest.
He responded by saying “no way, Jose”.
Dr Eager said he believed Ms Gamble was competent – an opinion that differs from that of fellow mechanical engineer Roderick McDonald, who gave evidence earlier during the hearing.
In a report he provided to the court, Mr McDonald said “it is highly likely that the Taz-Zorb operators present on the dayof the incident could not be considered as competent”.
He also said he believed “the training for all Taz-Zorb workers was inadequate”.
In his report, Dr Eager said the wind conditions when the jumping castle was flung about 10m in the air were “statistically rare” and described it as a “black swan event”.
“It was concluded that the jumping castle anchor system catastrophically failed as a direct result of the wind event,” hesaid in his report.
“The magnitude of the wind event was so great that the anchor system would have failed regardless of any of the suggested interventions.”
In his expert report, Dr Eager said the wind event that caused the jumping castle to become airborne was akin to “an extremely large vacuum cleaner hoovering objects in its path”.
“It appears that the wind event hoovered up the inflatable devices like they were small children’s toys from their bedroom.”
Dr Eager believed that Ms Gamble and the Taz-Zorb workers were experienced in operating and setting up inflatable devices.
“In my eyes, they are competent because they had done it 100 times. It’s not rocket science putting one of these things up.You don’t need a PhD to plug it in and pump it.”
UPDATE: A mechanical engineer has told a court that he believed the people operating the jumping castle at Hillcrest Primary School when it became airborne were competent, despite another expert saying the exact opposite earlier during the criminal hearing into the tragedy.
David Eager took to the witness stand on day eight of the Hillcrest hearing, which is expected to conclude on Friday.
In his report, Dr Eager said the wind conditions when the jumping castle was flung around 10m in the air were “statistically rare” and described it as a “black swan event”.
“It was concluded that the jumping castle anchor system catastrophically failed as a direct result of the wind event,” he said in his report.
“It was concluded that, more likely than not, that the anchor system would have failed even if eight ground anchors would have been installed.”
Dr Eager told the court that he believes it would have been a fair assumption on Ms Gamble’s not to buy more than the four pegs provided to her when East Inflatables sent her the jumping castle.
“Why would I need four more?”
Dr Eager believed that Ms Gamble and the Taz-Zorb workers were experienced in operating and setting up inflatable devices.
“In my eyes, they are competent because they had done it 100 times.
“It’s not rocket science putting one of these things up. You don’t need a PhD to plug it in and pump it.”
Dr Eager’s assessment of Ms Gamble’s competence differs from that of fellow mechanical engineer Roderick McDonald, who gave evidence earlier during the hearing.
In a report he provided to the court, Mr McDonald said “it is highly likely that the Taz-Zorb operators present on the day of the incident could not be considered as competent”.
He also said he believed “the training for all Taz-Zorb workers was inadequate”.
Update: A magistrate has ordered that parts of a report tendered as evidence during the criminal hearing into the Hillcrest tragedy be removed.
Yesterday, Prosecutor Madeline Wilson submitted objections to parts of mechanical engineer David Eagar’s report into the incident at Hillcrest in December 2021.
Ms Wilson told the court she had an issue with some of the terminology and conclusions reached in the report.
This morning, Magistrate Robert Webster upheld some of the objections but rejected most.
The report has been amended, and Dr Eagar is expected to take to the witness stand around 11.30am today.
Initial: The first of the three defence witnesses will take to the stand today during the criminal hearing into the Hillcrest tragedy.
Mechanical engineer David Eager was meant to give evidence yesterday, but that did not happen because the prosecution objected to parts of his report about the incident at Hillcrest.
Prosecutor Madeleine Wilson took issue with some of the terminology used in Dr Eager’s report, which was tendered as evidence, and is seeking to have certain parts of it removed.
Magistrate Robert Webster will decide whether to remove those parts when the hearing resumes this morning before Dr Eager takes the witness stand.
Taz-Zorb owner Rosemary Gamble has pleaded not guilty to one count of failure to comply with health and safety duty category 2 in relation to the events at Hillcrest Primary School in December 2021, where six children died after a jumping castle was flung 10m into the air.
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