Parents ‘broken’ after bouncy castle operator cleared in deaths of 6 kids
Global News
The accident happened at a primary school fair in Australia in 2021, on the last day of school before the children went on summer break.
The operator of an Australian bouncy castle company has been cleared of wrongdoing in an accident that killed six children and injured three at a primary school fair in 2021.
Rosemary Anne Gamble, who runs the company Taz-Zorb, was found not guilty by a Tasmanian court, which ruled that the fatal incident was the result of “an unprecedented weather system” that was “impossible to predict,” according to the BBC.
The victims were playing on the bouncy castle when it was blown into the air by sudden gusts of wind before plummeting 10 metres to the ground at Hillcrest Primary School in Davenport, a town of 30,000 people on Tasmania’s northern coast.
The freak accident shook the town and country. Then-prime minister Scott Morrison called the incident “unthinkably heartbreaking.” Former Tasmanian state premier Peter Gutwein said it was “simply inconceivable.”
Gamble was charged two years later, in November 2023.
Friday’s verdict caused significant distress among the children’s families, with some parents crying out in court in disbelief, ABC News reported.
The prosecution had accused Gamble of failing to adequately secure the bouncy castle to the ground, while her lawyers argued that no additional safety precautions to anchor the children’s play equipment would have prevented the accident.
Magistrate Robert Webster sided with the defence, ruling that the tragedy occurred due to a dust devil, a violent upward whirlwind that could not have been predicted, he said.
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