Defence witness Professor David Eager involved in tense exchange at Hillcrest jumping castle trial

Defence witness Professor David Eager has been involved in a tense back and forth with the Crown Prosecutor during a cross-examination at the trial of operator of the jumping castle at the centre of the Hillcrest Primary School tragedy of 2021.

Representing the defendant, Rosemary Gamble, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge of failure to comply with health and safety duties related to the deaths of six children after a jumping castle lifted in the air at Hillcrest Primary School in December 2021, Professor Eager appeared yesterday as an expert witness at proceedings in the Devonport Magistrates Court.

However, as reported by the ABC’s Sandy Powell, tensions in the caught rose when Professor Eager appeared to laugh when giving some answers during cross-examination, with family members of the children killed and injured appearing to react with shock and disbelief.

Mechanical engineer Professor Eager who had commenced been giving evidence on Thursday morning, was called as the first witness in the defence case for Gamble and was questioned by defence lawyer Chris Dockray.

As the ABC’s Powell reported “any of his answers to Mr Dockray's questions, often delivered with a smile and theatrical gestures, have appeared to anger and upset victims' family members seated in the rear of the court.”

Cross-examination by Crown Prosecutor Madeleine Wilson SC began on Friday morning, and she was reported to have appeared frustrated by Professor Eager’s answers to her questions.

At one point, speaking over the witness, the Prosecutor stated “stop and listen to the question, professor.”

Prosecutor Wilson began her questions by focusing on whether inflatable operators should generally be aware of the dangers that wind present to their devices.

Professor Eager attempted to answer several of her questions by saying what Gamble did on the day in question, which Wilson repeated was not what she had asked, raising her voice again to emphasise "I'm asking you general questions.

"I know you've been retained by the defence, professor, but your obligations are to be impartial to the court."

Professor Eager responded "I'm working for the court, Ms Wilson.”

In response to one of Professor Eager's answers, Magistrate Robert Webster interjected to direct Professor Eager to answer the Prosecutor’s questions.

Magistrate Webster directed "that's not the question. Just focus on the question Ms Wilson's asking.”

During the morning's evidence, Professor Eager eventually agreed with several of Wilson's suggestions.

He agreed that, generally, inflatables operators must be aware of wind conditions when setting up their devices, and that wind conditions can change quickly.

He also agreed that the instruction manual used by the accused, downloaded from the website of her jumping castle's manufacturer - East Inflatables - was generic, ambiguous and confusing.

And he agreed, after a tense back and forth, that Gamble did not in fact strictly follow the instructions each time she operated the jumping castle, including on 16th December 2021.

Wilson also questioned Professor Eager on whether it would have been reasonable for Taz-Zorb to have the jumping castle professionally inspected.

The witness had suggested such an inspection would cost more than the original jumping castle, which the court has heard was about $3,500, so it would be cheaper to just replace it annually.

However, he agreed that a one-off inspection in the six years prior to 2021 that Taz-Zorb owned the castle would have identified safety issues present with the castle or how it was being operated.

Wilson then suggested as Taz-Zorb was charging $500 per event they attended with the castle, of which there had been up to 200 in the prior six years, an inspection charge would have been "a good investment".

This exchange followed a further heated discussion about whether the safety issues could have been caught by a government body.

Professor Eager asked "where are all the WorkSafe Tassie guys? Six years she operated this thing.”

Wilson responded “Professor Eager, you are not here to be on your soapbox about other investigators.”

In a follow-up question by defence lawyer Dockray, Professor Eager repeated his position that an inspection would not have prevented the December 2021 tragedy.

Wilson's cross-examination continues, and the hearing is now expected to extend into next week.

Click here to view a professional profile of Professor Eager on the Standards Australia website.

Images: A jumping castle understood to be similar to the one at the centre of the Hillcrest Primary School tragedy (top, credit: Taz-Zorb website) and Professor David Eager (below, credit: Standards Australia).