INXS guitarist Tim Farriss suing boat owner over injury

Tim Farriss has taken the stand in civil action against a boat company, claiming an injury left him traumatised and suffering recurrent nightmares.

INXS guitarist and founding member of the iconic band Tim Farriss is suing a boat owner over an accident that “badly injured” his finger.

Mr Farriss has taken boat company owner John William Axford to the NSW Supreme Court over the 2015 incident, which he said left him traumatised, suffering recurrent nightmares.

He alleges that while operating the boat, a chain suddenly started retracting and grabbed and dragged his left hand into the anchor winch.

Tim Farriss alleges the fingers on his left hand were badly injured in the chain of a boat that spontaneously started retracting in 2015.

Mr Axford’s lawyer John Turnbull suggested in cross-examination on Monday that Mr Farriss had caused the accident himself by accidentally stepping on the foot pedal that causes the chain to engage.

“What happened is that you accidentally stepped on the up button?” he asked, to which Mr Farriss replied “no”.

“Are you quite sure?” he asked further, to which Mr Farriss replied “yes”.

“I’m as positive as I can be.

“I was nowhere near the switches.”

He said he “couldn’t be 100 per cent sure” as to where his hands where at particular times because he was in a state of shock.

INXS pictured in 1992, with (from left rear) Andrew Farriss, Garry Gary Beers, Kirk Pengilly, (from left front) Tim Farriss, Michael Hutchence and Jon Farriss.

“I’ve had nightmares about both hands being dragged into the winch, I’ve had nightmares about my feet being dragged into the winch – I can’t honestly say that my mental condition is stable enough to remember exactly which hand was where at which time,” he said.

“It was a long time ago - it was a traumatic event for me.”

He said he was looking forward away from the chain when the part of the boat mechanism started moving without warning, which he “assumed” was because the motor restarted.

“The winch suddenly, to my surprise, started to work again. The chain grabbed my hand, and pulled it between the chain and the (part of the boat called the) gypsy,” he said in court documents.

INXS pictured in 1997, the year of frontman Michael Hutchence’s tragic death, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Aspen. Colorado, with (from left) Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, Jon Farriss, Garry Gary Beers and Andrew Farriss. Picture: James Minchin/AP

Mr Farriss was an original member of INXS, which formed in 1977, along with his brothers Jon Farriss and Andrew Farriss, Garry Beers, Kirk Pengilly and frontman Michael Hutchence, who died in 1997.

Their well-known hits include Never Tear Us Apart, Need You Tonight, New Sensation and Suicide Blonde.

The hearing resumes on Tuesday.