Tasmania Police has apologised to the mother of a boy killed in the Hillcrest Primary School jumping castle tragedy after she was unable to be with her son’s body on the day he died.
Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar made the apology while giving evidence at the coronial inquest into the deaths in Devonport on Friday.
Addison Stewart, Chace Harrison, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Peter Dodt and Zane Mellor died when a wind gust lifted a jumping castle into the air at the school in 2021.
Zane’s mother, Georgie Burt, told the inquest earlier this week she was wrongly told her 12-year-old son had been taken to the Mersey Community Hospital.
Zane had instead died on the school oval and Burt was unable to see his body for three days.
Bodnar said he was aware other families had been able to be with their children on the oval.
“On behalf of Tasmania Police, I would like to sincerely apologise,” he told the inquest.
Bodnar said a teacher had misidentified Zane on the day and one family was told their child had died when he was still alive.
Although he was not at the scene, Bodnar reviewed about two hours of police body-worn camera footage while preparing for the inquest.
He described the scene as “chaotic” but said he was proud of the officers who worked alongside paramedics to try to save the children.
“I’m reminded of the looks of despair on people’s faces,” he said.
“It is particularly saddening that we weren’t able to do more and for that I apologise.”
“We did everything that we could to save those children.”
Bodnar became emotional as he told the inquest the footage brought back “a lot of those memories” of attending the 1996 Port Arthur massacre as a police officer.
Police officers have lodged 11 workers’ compensation claims linked to the tragedy.
Lawyers for the families have asked for school staff to be called to give evidence, saying the families have felt shut out by the school.
A lawyer for the state argued that giving evidence could harm the health of school staff.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart will rule on the request at a later date.
The inquest is expected to resume in November.
