Magistrate in Hillcrest jumping castle case to hand down decision
A chapter of the Hillcrest Primary School tragedy may end today, with Magistrate Robert Webster set to hand down his decision in the criminal case, but the story is far from over.
It is more than six months since the Devonport Magistrates Court heard evidence in the case against Rosemary Anne Gamble, who is charged with failing in her work health and safety duty over the tragedy on December 16, 2021.
Students Zane Mellor, Peter Dodt, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan, and Chace Harrison died, and three of their classmates were seriously injured when a freak wind tossed a jumping castle across their primary school oval in Devonport in north-west Tasmania.
Ms Gamble pleaded not guilty to the charge ahead of a two-week hearing in November. In February, the court heard closing statements from the prosecution and defence lawyers.
Some of the victims' family members sat through each day of the hearing, clutching pillows bearing their children's faces and wearing T-shirts printed with their photos.
The courtroom was often a scene of tension and heightened emotions as parents' grief, anger and frustration came to the fore.
The distressing details and timeline of the tragedy were examined in detail throughout the two-week hearing.
The court heard Ms Gamble owned Taz-Zorb, a business that dealt in inflatable amusement devices, and was contracted by the Hillcrest Primary School for its end-of-school-year celebrations on the day of the tragedy.
That morning, she and her partner Robert Monte set up their operation on the school's oval, and students began queuing for their turn on the couple's crayon-themed jumping castle.
At about 10am, a fierce wind, described by some witnesses as a "mini tornado" and by a weather expert as a "dust devil", swept through the school grounds with devastating effect.
It was an otherwise calm and sunny day, and the court heard the couple had used 30cm pegs at four of the castle's eight anchor points to tether it to the ground.
The pegs almost immediately failed when the dust devil struck, lifting the castle high into the air.
Seven children were inside the castle when it was thrown across the oval, and five of them did not survive their resulting injuries.
Another child was waiting in line and died after being struck in the head by the airborne jumping castle blower.
The charge alleged Ms Gamble failed to comply with her duty "in a way that exposed the children to a risk of death or serious injury".
Crown prosecutor Madeleine Wilson said Ms Gamble failed in several ways to comply with her duty, including by properly failing to anchor the castle to the ground.
The Crown also said Ms Gamble had failed to properly train herself or her staff in the proper, safe inflation and operation of the jumping castle.
Mr Monte told the court they watched YouTube and taught themselves how to operate the jumping castle after buying it in 2015.
"You're f***ing joking," a father said as he stormed out of court during Mr Monte's evidence.
Mechanical engineer Roderick McDonald told the court that if star pickets, which were available on the day, had been used at all eight anchor points, the castle would have stayed on the ground.
But defence lawyer Chris Dockray SC said it was the defence case that nothing Ms Gamble could have done would have prevented the tragedy on that day, as the dust devil was a freakish and unpredictable weather event.
That position was backed in by defence expert witness Professor David Eager from the University of Technology Sydney.
"If you hadn't held the event, it wouldn't have happened," he said.
During submissions in February, Mr Dockray also targeted Chinese company East Inflatables, the manufacturer of the jumping castle.
He said it was East Inflatables' business model to "prey upon people like Ms Gamble" to sell jumping castles.
Even if Magistrate Robert Webster does find Ms Gamble guilty, he cannot sentence her to a prison term.
The maximum penalty for a category two offence under the Work Health and Safety Act is a $1.5 million fine for a corporation, and a $300,000 fine for an individual conducting a business.
If Ms Gamble is found not guilty, she will simply be free to go.
But whatever the result, the victims' families will likely soon return to back in court as a coronial inquest is slated to begin once the criminal proceedings conclude.
The families also launched a civil class action against the state of Tasmania and Ms Gamble in December last year on the third anniversary of the tragedy.
The class action was filed in the Supreme Court of Tasmania by the law firm Maurice Blackburn and alleges the state, as the school's operator, and Taz-Zorb had a duty of care and failed to take reasonable precautions to ensure the children's safety.
At the time, principal lawyer Dimi Loannou said the families' grief was a daily experience.
"Nothing will erase the suffering or bring back their lost children," she said.
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