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A bouncy castle operator was cleared of breaching safety laws in a 2021 tragedy that killed six children at a primary school in Australia.
Six children died and three others were seriously injured after a gust of wind blew the jumping castle in the air in Tasmania during an end-of-year celebration in December 2021.
Rosemary Anne Gamble, who was the owner of Taz-Zorb, which set up the equipment at the school, was accused of not following safety laws and securing the jumping castle. She had pleaded not guilty.
On Friday, Ms Gamble was handed a not guilty sentence by Magistrate Robert Webster on charges of breaching workplace safety law.
Mr Webster said the incident happened “due to an unprecedented weather system” that was “impossible to predict”.
“I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Ms Gamble’s guilt to the charge in the complaint,” Mr Webster said during the verdict.
“In those circumstances, I find the charge is not proved, it is therefore dismissed.”
“Ms Gamble could have done more or taken further steps, however, given the effects of the unforeseen and unforeseeable dust devil, had she done so, that would sadly have made no difference to the ultimate outcome,” the magistrate added.
The families of the six victims expressed disbelief and anger over the not guilty verdict, saying their hopes for justice are “shattered now”.
In a statement read in court by Ms Gamble’s lawyer, she accepted “how deeply and tragically this incident has impacted so many people and families”.
“I realise these scars will remain for an extremely long time, likely forever,” Ms Gamble said. “There are no words to describe how I have felt ever since the tragic incident took so much away from so many people and left nothing but heartbreak and emptiness in its place.”
She said as a mother herself, she “can only imagine the pain that other parents are living with each and every day because of this terrible thing that happened”.
“There is not a moment that goes by where I don’t feel so painfully and terribly sorry to every single one of those people that were impacted and continue to grieve for their loved ones.”
Those killed in the incident were: Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt.
Peter’s father, Andrew Dodt, who was at the courtroom, said he was broken for a long time and now he is going to remain the same.
“I thank you for walking the path with us. It was a very long path … we’ve still got a long way to go.
“Our hopes are just shattered now, at the end of the day all I wanted was an apology for my son not coming home and I’m never going to get it and that kills me.”
Georgie Burt, mother of Zane, lashed out at Ms Gamble and said she hopes she “see them every time I miss a birthday, miss a Christmas”.
“This outcome does not reflect the weight of our loss, nor the reality we live with every single day.”
The decision caps a lengthy legal battle four years after the incident happened. It took two years to have Ms Gamble charged in the case and 12 more months before the matter began its 10-day hearing process.
During the hearing in November, it was alleged that she only used pegs at four of the castle’s eight anchor points, despite the castle manufacturing company’s two-page manual that recommended eight.
Ms Gamble was let down by the castle’s Chinese manufacturer, her lawyer Chris Dockray told the court.
He argued that East Inflatable, a Chinese manufacturer of the product, failed to provide any instructions at the time of purchase and supplied only four pegs with the equipment. As a result, Ms Gamble downloaded a brief two-page manual from the company’s website, which led her to believe that using four pegs was sufficient.
