Criminal hearing commences against jumping castle operator in Hillcrest School tragedy

Criminal proceedings against Rosemary Gamble, the jumping castle operator charged with workplace safety breaches over the Hillcrest Primary School tragedy of December 2021 in which six children died, have commenced this morning in the Devonport Magistrates Court.

Gamble, owner of inflatables company Taz-Zorb, has pleaded not guilty to one count of failure to comply with health and safety duty.

Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt were killed when the jumping castle they were playing on became airborne at the end-of-year school celebration.

What became known as the Hillcrest tragedy made headlines around the world.

Since charges were laid in November 2023, a number of directions hearing have been held in the Devonport Magistrates Court ahead of the case starting.

In the complaint, WorkSafe Tasmania alleged Gamble and two employees tethered the jumping castle at four of the eight required anchor points, and did not install the pegs at the appropriate angle.

WorkSafe Tasmania further claimed the workers were not adequately trained nor supervised to safely set up the castle, which exposed the children to the "risk of serious injury or death".

It is expected that much of the evidence presented to the Court will be delivered as agreed facts, which Crown Prosecutor Madeleine Wilson has previously said will help to prevent re-traumatising children who witnessed the tragedy.

Gamble's lawyer Chris Dockray has told the Court much of the defence case will rest on the evidence of witnesses with expertise in inflatables and geotechnical engineering.

Ahead of the hearing, and as recently as this week, the jumping castle was to be reinflated for the parties to gather evidence and prepare their case.

Earlier in the year, the Court heard the reinflation of the jumping castle should not occur anywhere in the public view, as it had the potential to re-traumatise members of the public.

The hearing is expected to run over two weeks.

Image: The six victims of jumping castle tragedy -  clockwise from top left: Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt - with Hillcrest Primary School's signage as background.