Witnesses sought in balloon company’s appeal of charges after 2013 death of tourist
WITNESSES are being sought in a case between an Alice Springs hot air balloon company and the Work Health Authority after the death of a woman in 2013
Alice Springs
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- Outback Ballooning appeals Work Health and Safety Act charges after 2013 death of Stephanie Bernoth
- Alice Springs ballooning company to be prosecuted over 2013 death
WITNESSES are being sought in a case between an Alice Springs hot air balloon company and the Work Health Authority after the death of a woman in 2013, a court has heard.
Sydney woman Stephanie Bernoth, 35, was on a holiday in Alice Springs in July 2013 with her partner and was boarding a balloon flight when her scarf became entangled in a large inflation fan, resulting in injuries from which she died a week later.
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In 2019 the High Court cleared the way for Outback Ballooning to be prosecuted over Ms Bernoth’s death.
In 2015, the Alice Springs Magistrates Court ruled NT WorkSafe could not prosecute the balloon company because Commonwealth air safety regulation “covered the field” of air safety, preventing the Northern Territory authorities from prosecuting under workplace safety laws.
NT WorkSafe claims Outback Ballooning failed to warn passengers about the risk of loose clothing, scarfs and long hair and should have set up a barrier around the large fan used to inflate the balloon.
In a hearing today Alice Springs Local Court heard representatives of the defendant had been “making attempts last few weeks to try to contact all those witnesses”.
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“We’ve been able to contact the Australian and the UK based witnesses, but none of the German or Danish have responded to our attempts to reach them,” the defence lawyer said.
He said they were trying to explore a number of avenues including Facebook in an attempt to contact the witnesses.
The matter was adjourned to November 14 for a mention, where Judge Birch said any witnesses intended to be called on the matter should be finalised.
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