Mark Bayliss: Much-loved Gold Coast real estate agent killed during May 2009 storm

A well-loved Gold Coast real estate agent was killed in his office during a freak storm which left friends, colleagues and family devastated.

Mr Bayliss tragically died in May 2009.

Mark Bayliss was a well-loved business figure in the Gold Coast’s real estate community.

His sudden death in a freak storm 15 years ago next week, left family and friend devastated.

He was remembered as a “salt of the earth” character.

Mr Bayliss was killed in the Surfers Paradise offices of Bayliss and Samra at 3.45pm on May 20, 2009 when a section of awning broke off the ­Chevron Renaissance towers and smashed through the window of his firm’s Elkhorn Ave base.

He had been sitting at his desk when the awning hit, blowing shattered glass through the office and piercing his body.

Mark Bayliss of Bayliss and Samra Commercial Realtors.

His colleagues rapidly tried to revive him, including fellow agent Nicholas Brown who told the Bulletin at the time he had initially thought a gun had been fired.

“There was a huge bang … it happened so quickly and I thought for sure that someone had shot him with a gun,’’ he said.

“It was a freakish accident. Just seconds before we had all been standing at the windows watching the crazy weather and then suddenly it was a disaster zone.’’

Businessman and developer Ron Bakir worked in the building and was photographed covering the shattered windows in the hours after the tragedy.

Ron Bakir pictured covering the broken window.

Fellow director Amrit Samra described Mr Bayliss as a “friend and brother”.

“Both our windows smashed but he was standing front on and he got hit in the chest,’’ he said.

“I can’t believe it happened … we weren’t just partners we were good mates and I called him my brother.’’

Mr Bayliss’s death came amid a devastating downpour which lashed the city, with 356mm of rain recorded and winds of 100km/h.

Premier Anna Bligh declared a state of emergency in response.

Mr Bayliss’s niece Jemma Bayliss, another Gold Coast real estate identity, spoke of her family’s devastation.

Some of the debris.

“Everyone is completely shocked and devastated that he was taken at this time with so much life to live and so much more to give,’’ she said.

“The only thing we can take comfort in is that it was sudden. You can certainly never prepare for the death of anyone when it’s so sudden and they are in the prime of their life.

“It’s just really tragic.’’

Mr Bayliss had moved to the Gold Coast in the late 1980s and worked as a blackjack dealer at Jupiters Casino while also training as a mechanic before moving into real estate.

A coronial inquest into his death was held in 2014-15 which found that fixings for the awning were not fit to hold the screen.

Mark Bayliss was a much-loved real estate agent.

Coroner James McDougall said there had been a “chain of bungles” but did not recommend disciplinary action against the awning builder or engineer.

Mr McDougall found Mr Bayliss died as a result of a “massive haemorrhage due to, or as a consequence of a tear to the aorta”.

The coroner found drawings provided to an engineer who certified the privacy screen were “rudimentary, lacking detail … (and) clearly inadequate”.

Funeral of Mark Bayliss

He found that awning company Aluminium Balustrades should have consulted engineer Laurie Oar over design changes to the fixings, but “clearly did not”.

“Had they done so, it is more probable than not that an adequate fixing would have been recommended for the privacy screen and it would not have become detached,’’ he found.

“Every witness … appreciated that the fixings, which were used, were not fit for purpose.’’

Mr McDougall said that while there was some criticism of Mr Oar regarding the certification, he did not believe referral to Engineers Australia for possible disciplinary action was warranted.