Movie World cleared of wrongdoing after de-scalping injury on carousel

Australia Broadcast Center

21-05-2025

Movie World has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a carousel accident that left a 12-year-old boy with severe head injuries.
After two days of evidence at a judge-only trial in the Southport Magistrates Court, Work Health Safety Queensland (WHSQ) withdrew its prosecution of Movie World's operator, Village Roadshow Theme Parks.
WHSQ had accused Village Roadshow of failing in its duty of care after the 12-year-old suffered an "ear-to-ear de-scalping injury" and several fractures on the Movie World's Looney Tunes carousel in April 2022.
Magistrate Lisa O'Neil was told the boy was standing on the back of the carousel's Wile E. Coyote character, instead of sitting on it, when his head went through an open aperture in the ceiling.
The court heard the boy's injuries were caused when his head was pinned between the edge of the aperture and machinery that drives the character up and down on a pole as the carousel turns.
Barrister for WHSQ, Clare O'Connor, told the court an independent safety report, provided to the theme park eight months before the accident, had identified the ceiling aperture as presenting a risk of crush injury and recommended rigid plastic brushes be installed on the opening.
"Such brushes are considered best practice and are in use at carousels at Sea World and Dream World," Ms O'Connor said.
She said the report found the ride was compliant with safety requirements, in "excellent operational condition", and its recommendation to install plastic brushes was being considered by the theme park prior to the incident.
By not installing the brushes, Village Roadshow had exposed carousel riders to a risk of injury or death, Ms O'Connor told the court.
Village Roadshow's barrister, Saul Holt, told the court the boy's actions on the carousel and his resulting injuries were "not reasonably foreseeable".
"This 12-year-old boy was described by one witness as surfing the character when his head, either deliberately or inadvertently, entered the hole in the ceiling of the ride," Mr Holt said.
Mr Holt said the carousel was immediately shut down after the incident and underwent a "hardcore engineering solution" before it was re-opened several months later.
"Once the risk was reasonably foreseeable, Village Roadshow Theme Parks made it impossible for it to occur," he said.
Movie World attraction attendant Ruby Piakura, who was operating the carousel on the day of the incident, told the court she had worked on the ride for more than six months at the time.
Ms Piakura said she had never seen a rider stand on a character before that day and had hit the emergency stop as soon as she realised something was wrong.
When asked if she had seen a rider stand on a character since, she told the court that while she continued to work at Movie World she had never returned to operate the carousel.
"I haven't wanted to go back to working on that ride," she said.
Theme park ride safety consultant David Randall wrote the report that recommended plastic brushes be installed on the carousel.
He told the court he had made the recommendation as an opportunity for improvement on the ride, not as a requirement for it to operate.
He said plastic brushes were a tactile deterrent rather than a physical barrier, meaning even if they were installed on the ride, the boy's head could still have gone through them and into the machinery above.
"I recommended the plastic brush be installed so that if a child reaches up into that area, they touch the brushes and pull their hand away," he said.
Mr Randall said even with decades of experience in safety management, he did not identify a person standing on a carousel character as a foreseeable risk.
"I was extremely surprised after the event, which is unusual for me, as I'd never considered that as an issue," he told the court.
On the third day of the trial, Ms O'Connor told Ms O'Neill the prosecution had no further evidence to offer, and asked to withdraw from the case.
"I think that is a responsible decision, given the evidence we have heard," Ms O'Neill said before she dismissed the charge against Village Roadshow Theme Parks.
The theme park operator will now make an application for WHSQ to pay its legal costs in the case.