A Tasmanian magistrate has dismissed a charge against the operator of the jumping castle in the Hillcrest Primary School tragedy finding criminality wasn't proven. Rosemary Anne Gamble, trading as Taz Zorb, pleaded not guilty to failing to comply with a health and safety duty over the December 2021 incident. Six children died, and three were seriously injured, when a wind gust blew the jumping castle into the air during an end of year celebration.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00This morning here in the Devonport Magistrates Court, nearly three and a half years since the
00:07Hillcrest Primary School tragedy, Magistrate Robert Webster delivered his verdict. He found
00:13that he was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Rosemary Gamble's guilt. Now it's been the
00:20prosecution's case throughout this two-week hearing in November that Ms Gamble did not
00:26adequately secure the castle, but the defence has maintained that no steps would have been
00:32able to prevent this tragedy. Magistrate Robert Webster wrote, the dust devil was impossible to
00:38predict. As the Director of Public Prosecutions properly conceded, the dust devil was unforeseen
00:44and unforeseeable. Magistrate Webster wrote, it could have been unavoidable and even if the defendant
00:49had taken extra steps, it would have been unlikely to change the ultimate outcome.
00:54It was an emotional scene outside of the court after he delivered his verdict. Speaking on behalf
01:01of Ms Gamble, her lawyer Bethan Frack delivered a statement. Here's what she had to say.
01:07There are no words to describe how I have felt ever since the tragic incident took so much away from so
01:14many people and left nothing but heartbreak and emptiness in its place. I never meant for anything
01:20like this to happen and I'm just so sorry that it did. Shortly after two family members came
01:27out and spoke to the media, they spoke of being absolutely broken. First was Georgie Burt and then
01:33was Andrew Dott. I'm deeply disappointed in the Tasmanian justice system. This outcome does not
01:42reflect the weight of our loss nor the reality we live with every single day. I've been broken for a long
01:52time and I think I'm going to be broken for a long morning. Now there's still two cases that remain to be
01:57heard in court. There's the coronial inquest and there's also the class action that's been brought
02:02by the families against the state of Tasmania and against Ms Gamble.