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|  Coroner recommends compulsory six-month inspections being done by arborists
Here's what happened elsewhere, the situation is not uncommon and cover ups deployed. Northern Territory News Quote:
27Feb08
SAFETY ISSUE: Former St Mary's Primary School principal Tony O'Brien leaving the Darwin Magistrates Court yesterday
SAFETY ISSUE: Former St Mary's Primary School principal Tony O'Brien leaving the Darwin Magistrates Court yesterday
THE groundsman at a Territory school where a 9-year-old boy was killed by a branch, said the principal ignored his pleas to maintain trees in order to save money, a coronial inquest heard yesterday.
Former St Mary's Primary School groundsman Tony Gooch told the Territory coroner yesterday he had written ``more than 10'' letters to former principal Tony O'Brien to get permission to maintain ``dangerous'' trees in the schoolyard, which ``regularly'' dropped big branches.
But Mr O'Brien refused ``98 per cent'' of the time, because of ``budget restraints'', the inquest was told.
``That's what he told me each time. That there wasn't enough money,'' Mr Gooch said. But the Darwin Magistrates Court heard yesterday Mr Gooch's letters and his personal file had not yet been found.
Mr Gooch was giving evidence during an inquest into the death of Darwin boy Aidan Bott.
Aidan died on August 29, 2006, at the Royal Darwin Hospital, seven days after he was hit on the head by a 7m African Mahogany tree branch.
Catholic Education Office and St Mary's lawyer Ben O'Loughlin said he was ``totally surprised'' by Mr Gooch's statements.
And the information distressed Aidan's mother Robyn Hunt, sitting in court with nine friends.
The inquest heard that during Mr O'Brien's tenure, no money was spent on tree maintenance in 2005, and only $210 by the time of the accident. The school had allocated $3000 in its budget to grounds maintenance that year.
``I thought it was very insufficient for the amount of work that had to be done at that stage,'' Mr Gooch told the inquest, describing the appearance of the school as ``grubby''.
Mr O'Brien, who was principal from 2003 until 2006, admitted the school looked ``run down'' but denied that he ever chose penny-pinching over making trees safe.
``I can't believe I would say that because it was a safety issue and I was very conscious of safety as principal,'' Mr O'Brien told the hearing.
Former principal, Sister Helen Little, said she did not ``pay attention'' to budget restraints but Mr O'Brien denied that he was brought in as a ``financial broom'' by the Catholic Education Office. He said the school was subject to ``regular reminding'' by the office to keep to budget.
And no parents or teachers had said the African Mahogany trees were dangerous, the inquest heard.
``The trees were regarded as a very significant part of St Mary's,'' he said.
Assisting counsel Jodi Truman said Aidan was with four friends under the tree _ one of three in the courtyard _ when the students heard a ``loud crack'' before running from the area.
``It appears Aidan was the only boy who was either sitting or kneeling at the time ... (and) he was simply unable to get up in time and run away with his friends,'' Ms Truman told the inquest.
Former policeman and St Mary's groundsman, David Butt, said he lay Aidan's slumped body on the ground after the branch fell, and his injuries looked ``fatal''.
The inquest continues today.
| 'We knew killer tree was dangerous' | The Courier-Mail Quote:
March 19, 2008 07:48am
THE Territory Catholic Education Office and St Mary's Primary School have admitted they knew the tree that killed a schoolboy would "seriously hurt someone" five months before the tragedy.
Aidan Bott's mother wept as the Coroner's Court yesterday heard her son's death was "preventable and foreseeable'' by the people in charge of his safety.
The inquest could lead to a mandate that Territory school staff should be trained in tree management and trees be inspected regularly by arborists.
The Catholic Education Office (CEO) provided an "explosive'' letter to Coroner Greg Cavanagh yesterday. It showed the former principal, former CEO director and present deputy director all knew the tree was dangerous.
The letter was found only this week when CEO director Michael Avery paid for a private investigation into the school's archives.
Written by principal Tony O'Brien to director Bill Griffiths and deputy-director Greg O'Mullane, and dated March 2006, it said a "large tree branch'' fell in the school courtyard, which was metres away from where nine-year-old Aidan was sitting when an African mahogany branch killed him five months later.
Mr O'Brien wrote that "fortunately the children were in class'', but warned the tree had the
potential to seriously hurt'' students if not fixed.
When shown the letter this week, Mr O'Brien said he had forgotten about it.
Dr Griffiths and Mr O'Mullane said they just "can't remember'' receiving the letter.
Assisting counsel Jodi Truman said that evidence given by the CEO and Mr O'Brien was "at best poor ... at worst disingenuous''.
And if Mr Avery had not found the letters, the truth would never been uncovered.
"What's the old saying, 'It was a conspiracy or a stuff up - you pick the stuff up every time','' Mr Cavanagh said.
Ms Truman said Aidan's death was preventable and Mr Cavanagh should recommend that all Territory schools overhaul their approach to tree maintenance.
"I spoke to Aidan's mother ... and she said one day her little boy went to school and he never came home.
"She never wants that to happen to anyone else.''
Michael Powell, acting for Aidan's mother Robyn Hunt, said she - like every parent at St Mary's that day - thought "the safest place you could keep your kids during the day would be at school''.
But the school, suffering a $5million maintenance shortfall, had been "left to rack and ruin'', and "buckets of money'' - $46,000 - only "materialised'' to remove trees after the tragedy.
He said the CEO had been "disgusting and shameful'' during the inquest, resorting to an "attack'' on a former groundsman.
"For the family to suffer further trauma of a cover-up unravelling is utterly disgraceful,'' Mr Powell said.
CEO and St Mary's lawyer Tom Berkley said both bodies now admitted they "knew there was a danger'' with the tree''.
He said "other dangers'' to pupils, including a legionnaire's disease scare, received higher priority leading up to Aidan's death.
"Well meaning people had to make decisions ... and now it appears in hindsight ... those decisions could have been better,'' he said.
Mr Cavanagh adjourned the case to prepare his decision
| Northern Territory News Quote:
03May08
THE SCHOOLYARD death of a nine-year-old Darwin boy should have been prevented by the people taking care of him, the NT Coroner said yesterday.
Greg Cavanagh said there was ``no doubt'' former St Mary's Primary school principal Tony O'Brien and the NT Catholic Education Office knew the tree that killed Aidan Bott (picture left) was dangerous.
And they "did not do anything'' about it. "A little boy went to school one day and did not return,'' Mr Cavanagh said.
"The family is ... rightfully upset and distressed at this tragedy -- so too is the entire community.''
The Coroner chastised the school and the Catholic Education Office for not admitting earlier they knew the tree could potentially kill -- and for compounding the grief of a distraught mother and her family, who had lost Aidan forever.
"(Their) distress has been compounded by the manner in which legal representatives of the school and the Catholic Education Office ... went to some lengths to persuade me they had no relevant knowledge as to the risks by the tree in the school yard.''
But he said there was insufficient evidence of a crime in connection to Aidan's death.
As soon as Mr Cavanagh said "his death was a preventable death'', the boy's mother, Robyn Hunt, broke down in tears.
The decision came about a month after Ms Hunt had sat through a six-day inquest into Aidan's death from a brain injury after he was hit by a 7m African mahogany branch on August 22, 2006.
The coroner's 30-page findings say budget pinching by the school and Catholic Education Office increased tree danger at St Mary's.
The school spent just $3000 that year on ground maintenance, which was "seven to eight times less'' than other Territory public schools.
"This is simply inadequate in the extreme,'' Mr Cavanagh said.
The coroner recommended government agencies educate all NT private and public school principals on tree maintenance, with compulsory six-month inspections being done by arborists. | |