Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy: Police, operator to appear at inquest into school accident

A police officer who attended the scene and an inflatable device worker will give evidence at an inquest into a primary school jumping castle tragedy.

Hearings examining the deaths of students Addison Stewart, Chace Harrison, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Peter Dodt and Zane Mellor will resume on Tuesday.

They were enjoying end-of-year celebrations at Tasmania’s Hillcrest Primary School in 2021 when a freak “dust devil” wind gust lifted the castle and other inflatable objects into the air.

An inquest, which began in September after delays due to criminal proceedings, is examining the causes of death, safety protocols and national regulations.

Tasmania Police detective Kim Steven and a worker from Taz-Zorb, the company which set up the equipment on the school’s oval, will give evidence on Tuesday.

Zane Mellor’s mother Georgie Burt previously told the inquest she was provided inaccurate information about where he was in the aftermath.

Ms Burt said she was told to go to a nearby hospital but later found out Zane had died on the oval. She said she wasn’t able to see his body for several days.

The inquest will reinflate the jumping castle for tests and will likely hear evidence from a world-renowned dust devil expert who has worked with NASA.

It has been told only half of the castle’s eight anchorage points had pegs in them, while an inflatable Zorb-ball barrier had pegs in six of 32 points.

Veteran constable and lead forensic investigator Dean Wotherspoon, who was involved in coordinating the scene, said in his opinion the castle was insufficiently tethered.

He said the oval was like “nothing he had seen” and everybody was doing their best to try to save the children in chaotic circumstances.

Taz-Zorb operator Rosemary Gamble was in 2025 found not guilty of criminal workplace safety breaches related to the incident.

Further hearings will be held on Thursday and Friday and in February.