By Kristy McDonald
A CASE of negligent manslaughter against two carers has been dismissed, after defence lawyers made a successful submission of ‘no case to answer.’
Joanne Pace, 38, of Melton South and Kenneth Conduit, 59, of Melton, were both facing charges of negligent manslaughter, after the death of disabled Taylors Lakes man, Kevin Chuter, 67.
Mr Chuter died on 8 May 2005, after ingesting a toxic liniment mixture at a football match, at which the defendant Conduit was a team coach.
On the day of the incident, defendant Conduit left Pace alone to care for Mr Chuter and four other disabled men while he coached, despite being employed to care for these men.
While the hearing was scheduled to continue for several more weeks, defence counsel submitted that the Crown had not proven beyond reasonable doubt, that Mr Chuter’s death was as a result of criminal negligence.
The Crown case was based on allegations of negligence in two parts – failure to adequately supervise Mr Chuter and, once the substance had been ingested, a failure to obtain prompt medical attention.
Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry said while the cause of Mr Chuter’s death was the ingestion of the liniment mixture, there was nothing to indicate to them that taking him to the football ground posed a danger to his well being.
“Such outings were encouraged as part of their care and were regarded as important with such events sometimes occurring once per week on the weekend,” Justice Lasry said.
“When there were outings, the practice was that there would be two carers although there were no hard and fast rules and these were matters of judgement.
“The supervisor of the two accused agreed in evidence that in such outings there were risks, but they were weighed against the benefits of the outings.
“Additionally, it would seem clear on the evidence that Mr Chuter and his fellow residents had been taken to the football … on several occasions … there was therefore a previous experience which had not revealed dangers so far as the residents were concerned.”
Justice Lasry also said Pace and Conduit’s failure to get immediate medical attention may not have made a difference in Mr Chuter’s survival.
“The Crown submits that the consumption of (the liniment mixture) was the medical cause of death … given the evidence of (prosecution expert witness) Dr Kerr that there was a reasonable risk of death even if prompt and appropriate medical treatment had been obtained … it would not be open to the jury to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that any criminally negligent failure to seek medical treatment … was the substantial cause of death,” Justice Lasry said.
After instruction, the jury returned verdicts of not guilty for both defendants.
