Jukes plead not guilty

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Cartage and building supplies company M E Jukes & Son has pleaded not guilty to a charge arising from the death of its worker Maurice Dooling.

Mr Dooling, 47, was operating a waste shredder at the company’s Stanley Road premises, when his legs became trapped in the machine on the morning of April 13, last year.

He was freed by firefighters and St John ambulance staff and transported to Gisborne Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

WorkSafe investigated and subsequently charged the company under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 with exposing a worker to the risk of serious injury or death. The maximum penalty is a fine of $1.5 million.

The case was scheduled for a registrar’s list in Gisborne District Court yesterday morning, but it wasn’t called as the company had given notice of its plea on Friday.

The next court date is in August.

In a bereavement notice published in the Gisborne Herald last year, the company said, “We, the team at Jukes Carriers, are devastated at the loss of our workmate, and express our sincere condolences to his family and all those who have had the privilege of being a part of the life of such a wonderful, positive, hardworking, and friendly man”.