Dreamworld Inquest Day 3: Ride operators Peter Nemeth and Courtney Williams give evidence in Thunder River Rapids Ride tragedy
AS the Dreamworld tragedy unfurled, a junior ride operator was told ‘not to speak to police’ by a member of senior management, the Dreamworld inquest was told today.
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AS the Dreamworld tragedy unfurled, a junior ride operator was told ‘not to speak to police’ by a member of senior management, the Dreamworld inquest was told today.
Junior ride operator Courtney Williams told the inquest today the first time she knew there was an issue with the Thunder River Rapids Ride was when loading gates would not open for her.
Ms Williams said she tried to open the gates to unload passengers.
She said she understood the gates not opening was an air pressure issue which needed to be dealt with.
Ms Williams told the inquest she tried to get senior ride operator Peter Nemeth’s attention to report the maintenance issue.
It was then she saw his face drop and heard loud talking behind her.
“(Mr Nemeth) didn’t react at all. I looked back and saw the incident unfold and then I went into action,” she said.
The inquest heard the junior operator also climbed on the conveyor belt of the Thunder River Rapids Ride to help free Cindy Low’s son from the ride following the tragedy.
Ms Williams told the inquest she had her back to the raft when it began to flip and turned when she heard loud noises.
She said when the raft became vertical she ran to the conveyor belt.
Counsel assisting the coroner Rhiannon Helsen asked: “You climbed onto the conveyor, is that right?”
Ms Williams replied: “Yes.”
Ms Helsen: “Then you sat with him. Is that right?”
Ms Williams: “Yes.”
Ms Helsen: “You then removed him from the area?”
Ms Williams: “Yes.”
Ms Williams said she sat with 10-year-old Kieran for some time.
“I was with the boy in the queue line in the cut out area and was sitting with the boy,” she said.
Ms Williams said in the moments leading up to the incident she had “completely forgotten” about the emergency stop button from a distance earlier that day.
She said in a statement given to police that a man she knew as “Troy” who worked for Dreamworld had told her not to give a statement to police.
“Don’t give any statements and to just wait over to the side,” her statement read.
Ms Williams said when police asked her for a statement “Troy” told her not to give it or to go somewhere else.
She said she understood Troy was “one under” the CEO.
Ms Williams was also reassured the families of Kate Goodchild and Luke Dorsett did not hold her responsible for the tragedy at Dreamworld in October 2016.
The families’ barrister Steven Whybrow reiterated statements he made earlier to senior ride operator Peter Nemeth about the tragedy.
“They have asked me to tell you as far as they are concerned they don’t consider you in any way responsible for what happened to their loved ones,” he said.
Ms Williams said after the incident she never returned to work at Dreamworld as she chose not to.
She said she was provided the counselling she needed.
The junior operator told the inquest earlier she had not been shown how to shut down the ride’s conveyor belt.
Ms Williams told the inquest she was trained by colleague Amy Crisp between 9.35am and 11.05am on the day of the disaster.
Counsel assisting the coroner Rhiannon Helsen asked if Ms Williams was told at any time what button would shut down the conveyor.
“No,” she said.
Ms Williams said Ms Crisp did point to the fast emergency stop button for the conveyor from a distance.
“She said, do you see that button over there, don’t worry about it, you don’t need to use it,” Ms Williams said.
She said she knew it was an emergency stop button, but did not know what it was for.
Ms Williams said Ms Crisp took her through the shut down process at the main control panel, but was not told what each of the four buttons she would need to press did.
She said she was told she could initiate the shut down procedure if she felt comfortable and confident to do so.
“Because it was my first day I was not comfortable and confident in handling the control panel if I didn’t need to,” Ms Williams said.
If she had initiated the shut down process, the level three operator would take over.
Earlier today, the inquest was told ride operator Peter Nemeth did not sleep for three days after the Dreamworld tragedy which killed four people.
Mr Nemeth said when he was interviewed by police on October 28, 2016 he had not slept for three days and his recollection of events was fuzzy.
“At that time (of the interview) I am not sure what I was thinking,” he said.
“I was working on three days of no sleep. Things became clearer as time went on.”
There were some details Mr Nemeth was still unable to completely recall.
Defence barrister Toby Nielsen, for Roozbeh Araghi’s family, asked Mr Nemeth if he was sure he hit the right buttons.
“Is it possible you hit the wrong buttons in a panic,” Mr Nielsen asked.
“I can’t comment on that,” Mr Nemeth replied.
Under questioning he was unable to recall if, prior to the two rafts colliding, he made a “325” call to maintenance report the water levels dropping before or, after the shut the ride down.
“I would have done the shut down, then I would have made the 325 call and then I turned back to (ride operator) Courtney (Williams) and that was when I saw the raft coming down the conveyor …” he said.
“The only thing I cannot recall doing is the shut down procedure before the 325 phone call.”
Barrister Craig Eberhardt, acting for an Ardent Leisure employee, asked Mr Nemeth why he did not call out Ms Williams to press the emergency stop button near here when he realised his attempts had failed.
“I can’t recall,” he said.
Mr Nemeth also said he did not run to the other emergency stop button when he saw the rafts about to collide.
“They were only one second away from collision,” he said.
“One second is not enough to run 10m and press a button.”
It was put to Mr Nemeth that, prior to the incident, he had been unloading a raft when the conveyor made a noise.
He was asked if he turned and ran towards the conveyor when he heard the noise before changing directions and going to the main control panel.
Mr Nemeth said he could not recall hearing a noise.
After about seven hours of grilling, Mr Nemeth has now been excused.
Ms Williams is expected to take the stand this afternoon.
It came as the lawyer acting for the families of two of the Dreamworld disaster’s victims has told the inquest they did not Mr Nemeth responsible.
Barrister Steven Whybrow, acting for Kate Goodchild’s and Luke Dorsett’s families, made the reassurance before beginning his cross-examination of the ride operators.
“They don’t hold you in the least bit responsible for what happened on that day,” Mr Whybrow said.
He told Mr Nemeth the families had asked him to make their feelings clear.
Mr Nemeth said in the months since the Thunder River Rapids Ride tragedy that Dreamworld have never levelled any criticism at him.
Mr Whybrow also asked whether Mr Nemeth was aware of an incident in April 2016 where a passenger fell into the water after “skylarking” on the log ride.
In that instance, ride operators on duty did not know about the incident until the log craft the passenger had fallen from had arrived at the end of the ride.
Another log vessel went over the man while he was still in the water.
Following that incident, Mr Nemet, in his role as safety officer, had recommended more CCTV cameras be installed to help ride operators view all parts of the ride.
But Mr Nemeth said he was not involved in any briefings on the incident despite being qualified to operate the ride.
“No, I don’t recall the operators being involved. It was the management above. It wasn’t my level,” he said.
The inquest was earlier told Mr Nemeth was not warned about the possibility that rafts could flip in his training to operate the Thunder River Rapids Ride
Mr Nemeth has resumed the stand on the third day of the inquest into the Dreamworld disaster which took the lives of Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi and Cindy Low.
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Under cross-examination, by barrister for Cindy Low’s family Matthew Hickey, Mr Nemeth said he had not been warned about the possibility of rafts flipping.
“Was one of those a known problems (you were trained in) that rafts might tip,” Mr Hickey asked.
“Rafts might tip. No. Definitely not. I cannot recall that no,” Mr Nemeth replied.
The revelation comes after the inquest was told on Monday a raft had flipped during a dry run of the ride before opening in January 2001.
ANALYSIS: TWISTS AND TURNS IN DREAMWORLD INQUEST
DREAMWORLD INQUEST: 17 YEARS OF WARNINGS IGNORED
Mr Nemeth told Mr Hickey he could not recall what potential ride or guests incidents he was trained in because his training “was awhile ago”.
Documents presented to the inquest also showed the ride’s first aid kit had not been fully stocked from October 18 to the day of the tragedy.
“According to the paper work that’s what it indicates … It was usually the number of band aids the indicated the first aid kits was not stocked,” Mr Nemeth said.
“That was a common occurrence that the first aid kit didn’t have the right number of band aids.”
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Mr Hickey also took Mr Nemeth through a long list of more than 20 tasks Mr Nemeth had to perform in less than a minute as the main ride operator.
The list included helping children on the raft, checking CCTV cameras to ensure rafts were not stuck or passengers had fallen in the water, loading the ride and monitoring the queue.
Mr Nemeth agreed that it was impossible for a single person to do all the tasks in less than a minute.
“Mr Nemeth, wouldn’t it have made sense in doing that very difficult job by being provided another level 3 ride operator rather than a level 2 operator,” Mr Hickey asked.
“Yes it would have made it easier,” Mr Nemeth replied.
The inquest has adjourned for the day and will resume at 10am tomorrow.
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