Mother Tammy White speaks after young Eugene Mahauariki’s death on Rye carnival ride

An inquest heard a witness remembered seeing the six-year-old reaching out for a high-five before his fatal fall.

A witness to a tragic accident on a Mornington Peninsula carnival ride later remembered seeing a six-year-old child reaching out for a high-five before fatally falling from his favourite attraction.

On the final day of an inquest into Eugene Allen Mahauariki’s death at a Rye Foreshore festival five years ago, mother Tammy White said April 17, 2017 altered her life irrevocably.

“Stacey [Mahauariki] and I have lost parents and siblings, but the grief of losing a child is like nothing else,” she said.

“There is a ripple effect that impacts your whole family and it changed the whole dynamic in our home forever.

“They say you know when something happens to your loved ones: when we heard the loud metallic bang, Stacey and I had a gut feeling that something had happened to our child.

“A few days later, at the chapel, we knew in our hearts that our baby wasn’t going to make it.

“We didn’t want to let go of our baby; we wanted to hold onto him for as long as we could.”

Ms White said losing Eugene, who she described as an “outgoing” and “bubbly” child, gave the family “nightmares” and “constant trauma”.

“Eugene is no longer with us in person, but he will always be around us in spirit,” she said.

“This urn that I have with me, contains his ashes and he comes with us everywhere.”

She hoped that her testimony would lead to tighter regulations for amusement rides, as well as accountability for their operators.

Eugene died when he slipped under the safety bar and fell from a Cha-Cha ride at a 2017 Easter carnival.

He was flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital, but never regained consciousness.

Engineers for carnival operator Wittingslow Amusements had previously warned business owner Michael Wittingslow of his rides’ shortcomings.

During a 2011 inspection, engineer Brian Bradley suggested a “change to the restraint system” on the machines.

The inquest heard he wrote a letter about the same time to all registered owners and operators of Cha-Chas, warning them about the risk of manslaughter charges.

“The circumstances under which this could happen are if a child is ejected from a Sizzler or Cha-Cha for which I had signed the annual inspection certificate, and it is found on investigation that the restraint system did not prevent the child from being ejected and killed,” Mr Bradley’s letter was reported to have said.

“This means that, as I do not wish to go to jail for manslaughter, I will only sign annual inspection certificates for these rides after the owner has demonstrated to me that the smallest rider allowed to ride is unable to escape from the restraint under any circumstances, i.e. panic or deliberate intent or accidental movement.”

Eugene Mahauariki.

During Friday’s inquest, an investigator said he had spoken with the mother of a child who was on the same ride as Eugene.

He said she recalled that four to five months after the incident, her eight-year-old daughter spoke of Eugene sitting up in his seat to high-five someone before he fell.

In 2015, an inspection was done by engineer Tim Gibney.

He wrote to business owner Mr Wittingslow in March of that year refusing to put his name to an inspection certificate.

“After inspecting the Mini Dodgem Cars and the Dodgem Car track, I decided to cut short my anticipated inspections,” Mr Gibney said.

“None of the items listed for repair or upgrade in last year’s inspection have been undertaken and the rides were in worse condition than when inspected in 2014.

“WorkSafe Victoria will be blitzing seaside carnivals next year and given the current regulatory climate due to the Adelaide fatality, Brooks accident and Moule World plant failure, I cannot sign-off your rides in their currently [sic] condition.”

Mr Wittingslow responded that “the Dodgem Cars were an older car” but their degradation was not “critical in any sense”.

“They had tape on them instead of being new, or something like that,” he said.

“It wasn’t a major mechanical or anything else condition.”

He said he believed Mr Gibney “got the shits” and went off “in a huff” because of the rides’ conditions.

“I didn’t refuse to do anything,” Mr Wittingslow said.

“I admit they [the rides] were in poor condition, but they were not unsafe.”

Seatbelts were added to the Cha-Cha following Eugene’s death.

Mr Wittingslow still owns the ride, which is on sale on his website for $80,000.

The legal team, headed by Barrie Woollacott from Slater and Gordon, said they were satisfied with the investigation and the detail of evidence that had been heard over the two weeks of the inquest.