The first week of the inquest into the Dreamworld tragedy has been damning for the theme park, which could be facing Australia’s largest ever compensation payout.
Lawyers working at the inquest into the October 2016 tragedy have said the evidence presented indicates the theme park breached its duty of care and as a result could be eligible for a compensation bill reaching into the millions of dollars.
Roozi Araghi, Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett and Cindy Low lost their lives when the ride malfunctioned and sent them flying into the water.
Four people, Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, were killed in October 2016 after the Gold Coast theme park ride malfunctioned
Now everyday their families are attending court on the Gold Coast to find out how the tragedy was allowed to happen.
So far the inquest has revealed damning evidence, including several staff members revealing the poor training practices at the park and admitting that just a week before they had been cautioned in a memo against pressing an emergency stop button.
It has also emerged that the ride had malfunctioned many times before, including twice in the hours before the accident.
Bill Potts from Potts Lawyers told 9NEWS that then families of the victims, staff and witnesses could all take legal action if it’s found the park breached its duty of care.
‘I would expect the claims to run in the many, many millions,’ Mr Potts said.
‘Damages do not bring back human life but they are a method by which Dreamworld and a number of organisations, can be effectively taught that this type of negligence causing death cannot be allowed to occur.’
Kate Goodchild, left, and her brother Luke Dorsett, right, died in the Thunder River Rapids ride
Cindy Low, left, and Mr Dorsett’s partner Roozi Araghi, right also died in the tragedy
So far the inquest has revealed damming evidence, including several staff members revealing the poor training practices
Bill Potts has said that if the theme park is found to have breached its duty of care the families and witnesses could take legal action
The inquest will resume on Monday and is likely to be another tough week for the park.
Among the witnesses who will give evidence this week are senior staff who trained the ride operators.
The engineers who were supposed to make sure the rides were safe.
At the end of this coming week the inquest will adjourn and the final two weeks will be heard later in the year.
