Death boom 'not secured'

A 10-year-old girl died after being hit by a cherry-picker boom which swung out as it was being transported, a jury in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

Rahma Muse, whose family are from Somalia, was walking to school with her brothers and sisters on a footpath in New North Rd, Avondale, in March last year when the tragedy occurred.

Before the court is Glenn Stuart Eddleston, aged 38, of Browns Bay, who denies a charge of manslaughter and an alternative charge of dangerous driving causing death.

Charles Cato, appearing for the prosecution with Debra Bell, said Eddleston, who operated a cherry-picker hire business, had not taken adequate precautions or care.

"Tragically, during a trip from the City to West Auckland, the boom of the cherry picker, which he had failed to secure by placing a safety pin in place, was displaced from its secure position, swung out and collided with a child on her way to school," Mr Cato said.



He said Eddleston knew the importance of inserting a clevis, or safety pin, as a locking device to ensure that the locking pin could not fall out, leaving the boom insecure in its cradle.

But, Mr Cato said, Eddleston did not inspect the cherry picker to ensure the boom was in its cradle and/or that the locking pin and/or clevis pin were in place before starting his journey from Hobson St.

The Crown says there will be evidence that en route the cage of the boom was impeding traffic.

Eddleston allegedly stopped and pushed the cage so that it no longer hung over the side of the trailer, but did not secure the boom by placing a locking pin and a further cleat or safety pin in place to ensure it did not come free.

Eddleston allegedly told police he put in the locking pin, but did not put the safety pin through the locking pin.

In a videotaped interview, he said that when he arrived to pick up the cherry picker, his car was slightly in the roadway and he was in a rush.

He noticed that the safety pin was not in and intended to pull into a Pitt St service station to check it. But he could not stop because of traffic difficulties.

He went on to the North Western motorway and the matter went out of his head.

In a further interview, Eddleston is alleged to have said that he thought the boom was secure without the clevis pin being used.

He denied getting out of his vehicle and pushing the boom back to the centre of the trailer.

And he maintained that he had no knowledge that the boom was insecure until he got to New North Rd.

In a preliminary opening address, defence lawyer David Jones said Eddleston was a responsible and safe operator who would not tow a cherry picker that was insecure.

He was devastated by the girl's death, and had great difficulty understanding how it had occurred.

Mr Jones said that Eddleston's statement that he had put in the locking pin but not the safety pin was incorrect.

Eddleston, he said, had checked the machine when he picked it up and saw that both pins were in place.

What might well have happened, Mr Jones told the jury, was that the pins were inserted incorrectly, giving the appearance of being secure.

He demonstrated how the safety pin could be wrongly inserted and said that on a bumpy road, both it and the locking pin could work free.

Eddleston, he said, was not grossly negligent and had not been driving in a dangerous way.

The trial, before Justice David Morris, continues today.