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Images of fatal jumping castle incident shown in court

Six children were killed at Hillcrest Primary School after a jumping castle became airborne.

Six children were killed at Hillcrest Primary School after a jumping castle became airborne. Photo: AAP

Photos of blood stains on a jumping castle which became airborne at a primary school, killing six children, have been shown during a court hearing.

Rosemary Gamble, operator of Taz-Zorb, is accused of failing to comply with a health and safety duties over the incident at Hillcrest Primary School in December 2021.

Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt died during end-of-year celebrations on the Tasmanian school’s oval.

Gamble, who set up inflatable equipment at the school with two other workers, has pleaded not guilty and is facing a two-week hearing in Devonport Magistrates Court.

Images of red-brown staining on the castle were shown on Wednesday to the courtroom, where family of the children who died were present.

Some of the stains were on the roof of the castle and the walls.

The court was previously told a “mini-tornado” lifted the castle several metres into the air, with one witness saying it travelled 75m across an oval.

It is alleged the castle was only tethered at four of its eight anchor points and with pegs that didn’t comply with Australian standards.

Prosecutor Madeleine Wilson said Gamble had other means available, such as star pickets, to tether the castle but didn’t use them.

The court was shown photographs of star pickets in the back tray of a ute at the school.

Constable Dean Wotherspoon, who took photos of the equipment, said some pegs at the scene – used to secure other items and not the castle – were rusty.

East Inflatables, the China-based manufacturer of the castle, sold the item to Gamble in November 2015, the court was told.

East Inflatables sales manager Andy Chen said, via an interpreter, the company generally provided four-to-eight pegs to people who bought inflatable castles.

During opening submissions on Tuesday, Gamble’s lawyer Chris Dockray said his client had received a written assurance from East Inflatables the castle was compliant with Australian standards.

The manufacturer had not provided a manual but Gamble downloaded a one-and-a-half page document explaining how to operate the castle from the company’s website, he said.

The document was misleading and was updated with a 13-page manual after the fatal incident, Dockray said.

He said evidence about the strength and unexpected nature of the wind “dust devil” would show no tethering methods proposed by the Crown would have changed the outcome.

Several witness statements read to the court described a “mini-tornado” which lifted the castle metres into the air.

Five of the six children died from injuries after falling from a height, while one was struck with an electrical blower, the court was told.

The hearing is expected to conclude on November 15.

-AAP

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