A police officer has told an inquest he was met with “organised chaos” when he arrived at the scene of the Hillcrest Primary School jumping castle tragedy.
Crime scene examiner Dean Wotherspoon gave evidence before Coroner Olivia McTaggart in Devonport on Wednesday.
Six children died on December 16, 2021, after a wind gust lifted a jumping castle into the air, the inquest has heard.
They were Addison Stewart, Chace Harrison, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Peter Dodt and Zane Mellor.
Wotherspoon, who joined Tasmania Police in 1995, told the inquest he was attending a fatal crash at Sprent when all available resources were called to the school. He arrived about 10:30am.
“It was nothing like I’d seen. It was unprecedented in my career,” he said.
“There were a lot of people doing their utmost to save the children.”
“Police officers, school staff, paramedics… were all doing what they could to save the children.”
Wotherspoon told the inquest he helped try to resuscitate Zane, who died at the scene.
He said it was unclear who was in charge that day.
“I should’ve detached myself from those duties and maintained that coordination role from a forensic perspective,” he said.
Wotherspoon also told the inquest the blower used to inflate the jumping castle was placed in the operator’s trailer instead of being kept as an exhibit, which he said could have compromised DNA evidence.
He said there was not enough time to carry out a thorough examination of the scene and the ideal situation would have been for it to remain in place overnight.
However, he said the issues on the day did not significantly affect the forensic examination.
Taz-Zorb operator Rosemary Gamble was previously found not guilty of workplace safety charges over the tragedy.
On Tuesday, health service executive Paula Hyland told the inquest the children could not be immediately identified at the Mersey Community Hospital.
She said that made it difficult to inform families but did not affect the children’s care.
Zane’s mother, Georgie Burt, earlier told the inquest she only later learned her son had died at the school and had never been taken to hospital.
State forensic pathologist Andrew Reid told the inquest no other medical or surgical treatment would have changed the outcome for any of the children.
He said he only learned this week that Zane’s family had been unable to see his body until three days after his death.
The inquest resumes on Friday, with further hearings scheduled for November and February.
