‘I don’t function. I exist’: Grieving mum still fighting for justice five years after son’s death

BEN Catanzariti’s mum has waited five years, seven months and 15 days to get closure around her son’s death. This week, she was handed another blow.

Kay Catanzariti is still fighting for justice for her son Ben, who was killed in a workplace accident in Canberra in 2012.

KAY Catanzariti has been through more than any mother should have to bear.

On July 21, 2012, her beloved 21-year-old son Ben was killed by a falling concrete pouring boom at a construction site in Canberra.

He had been working for Belconnen Concrete for just two weeks before the accident, which occurred when bolts on the boom gave way, causing it to fail.

But from that devastating moment, the shocks kept coming for Mrs Catanzariti, her husband Barney and their second son Jack.

After the accident, the close-knit family, who live in Griffith in the NSW Riverina region, were told they would not receive one cent of Ben’s $200,000 worker’s compensation payout because he did not have a will.

Instead, the money went to his girlfriend Kahlia Boyd, who was listed as Ben’s emergency contact.

Ms Boyd claimed she had lived with Ben for eight months — a claim his family strongly denied.

However, the court ruled Ms Boyd was financially dependent on Ben and that the pair were living together, and as a result, she took the lot — even Ben’s treasured gold chain and cross, a keepsake his mother desperately wanted returned to the family.

Mrs Catanzariti told news.com.au it had been a “horrendous” experience.

“You’re grieving, you’ve just lost your son — money is the last thing on your mind. It was horrendous having to go through all that,” she said.

Ben Catanzariti’s family have endured endless setbacks since his death. Picture: Supplied

“I want to emphasise it wasn’t about the money, it was about the principle. We knew Ben and who he was. We went through all that with that girl and may she have peace with the money.”

Then, in 2016, the unthinkable happened.

The ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions had been building a case against maintenance company Schwing Australia and one of its engineers, Phillip James O’Rourke, who were responsible for the maintenance of the machine.

But after a series of lengthy delays, criminal charges were dropped as a result of conflicting expert reports on why the concrete boom’s bolts had failed.

And this week, during a coronial inquiry into Mr Catanzariti’s death, Mrs Catanzariti was denied the chance to read the victim impact statement she had laboured over.

The coronial court allowed the statement to be placed on the file, but ruled victim impact statements were only part of the process in criminal proceedings — a decision the grieving mother said had stolen her chance to achieve some closure.

Ben Catanzariti was killed in 2012 — after just two weeks on the job.

“It’s just not right. As a society we are supposed to be able to speak,” a distressed Mrs Catanzariti said.

“It would help give me a little bit of closure, even though I know the two people I would want to hear it (the director of Schwing and Mr O’Rourke) wouldn’t be there.

“I need to do it for myself to help me move on and get just a little bit of closure.”

After learning she couldn’t read the victim impact statement at the inquest this week, Mrs Catanzariti contacted ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay.

On Friday, she will meet with the Justice and Community Safety Directorate to discuss her proposal to allow victims to be heard at coronial inquests — something she believes would help suffering families across the country.

“I’ve gone through a traumatic experience but I’m not the only one. If this can help someone else, I want the law to change to help others and to help me too,” she said.

Mrs Catanzariti said the family had been devastated by the entire legal process, but especially the decision to drop criminal charges against those she believes are responsible for her son’s death.

“If you don’t have money, you’re nothing. You don’t get justice — you just get the law,” she said.

Ben Catanzariti’s mother Kay wants victims’ families to be allowed to read statements at coronial inquests.

“Never, ever tell a grieving parent it’s time to move on, because you want justice, you want accountability. I taught that to our boys — to take responsibility for your own actions.

“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I watched my dad die of cancer and seeing that was horrendous, but it doesn’t even come close to losing a child.

“There will never be justice until people speak up and are heard. How can we get justice if we don’t keep continuing to make the powers-that-be listen and make people accountable?”

Mrs Catanzariti said if the courts had made an example out of Schwing and Mr O’Rourke, other workplaces would do more to protect employees, which would ultimately save lives.

“Nothing is being done, and accidents are still happening — 16 people have already died this year in Australia on industrial sites — 16,” she said.

“It all comes down to barristers muddying the waters. It all comes down to ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. But if they heard from witnesses, it would be finished quite simply.”

This week, the Catanzariti family’s lawyers asked coroner Karen Fryar to refer the case to prosecutors for consideration of criminal charges.

It is a tiny glimmer of hope for the family, who have been waiting for justice for five years, seven months and 15 days.

“We’ve been handed a death sentence too, because we have no answers,” she said.

“Don’t tell me Ben’s head was crushed and that’s how he died, because I know that.

“But why did those bolts fail? Because procedure was not followed correctly by people that serviced the boom.”

Mrs Catanzariti has been campaigning for a senate inquiry into construction deaths.

Mrs Catanzariti’s moving eight-page statement described how she struggled every day since her son’s death.

“This has been a relentless, exhausting and painful journey,” a section of the statement said.

“I don’t function. I exist. I go to work as the bills keep coming. I want to pull the sheets over my head and disappear.

“I watch the sun go down but never rise.

“This victim impact statement has been my chance to say some of the things I needed to express.

“At the end of the day I now know that I will not get the end result that I want — accountability for Ben’s death.”

News.com.au has decided to publish Mrs Catanzariti’s statement in full, to give her the opportunity to finally be heard. You can read her statement here.

Mrs Catanzariti has been campaigning for a senate inquiry into construction deaths, which is due to go before parliament on March 19.

She has also established the website Will It Your Way which encourages young people to make a will and clearly state their wishes.

She said it was important for her to continue to tell Ben’s story and to fight for justice.

“The greatest joy for a grieving mother is for people to still use his name and talk about him and know that he existed,” she said.

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