Boy injured on Gravitron ride was 'showing off', claim witnesses

Kristin Ramsden and her son Jacob Gerritsen. Photo / Lynda Feringa

The 12-year-old boy injured on a fairground ride at last weekend was partly the cause of his own misfortune, witnesses say.

Jacob Gerritsen, of Martinborough, was thrown backwards and bounced around steel framing on a Mahons Amusements ride, the Gravitron, at the Wairarapa A&P Show.

Jacob's mother had claimed that the padding on the ride had slipped out from underneath her son and he had been pushed upwards by the force of the ride.

The Gravitron ride at the Wairarapa A&P Show. Photo / Supplied

She said that despite screams from those witnessing the incident the operator did not stop the ride.

"He actually thought he was going to die," Ms Ramsden said. "Everyone was screaming. He was smashing around. He's got bruises and bumps from head to toe, he suffered concussion and he's got injuries everywhere."

However, other teenagers on the ride have disputed this version of events.

One, Noah Moyes, said he was "on this ride when he [Jacob] got sucked in behind and what this boy described happened didn't happen".

"He was showing off and climbed up the seat."

He said that Jacob "decided to climb up the seat, then spun himself upside down, probably to show off because it was pretty high up the seat, then he got sucked behind the ride and everyone was screaming but the operator didn't hear".

After she was told of the Facebook posts, Ms Ramsden acknowledged Jacob had changed position on the Gravitron, which he had ridden six times.

"He wasn't upside down on the ride he flipped on; he was on the ride before that," Ms Ramsden said. "Why wasn't he told he wasn't allowed to do that? If anything that just confirms the operator wasn't doing his job."

Ms Ramsden also joined the Facebook conversation, saying it was the operator's job "to identify and deal with dangerous behaviours". "If Jacob had been told he wasn't allowed to do that he wouldn't have."

John Mahon, of Mahons Amusements, told Ms Ramsden this week he was glad Jacob had not been badly hurt but that it took time to bring the ride to a halt.

He declined to comment to The Times-Age.