Gore District Council pleads guilty to charge in relation to toddler's death

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Lachie Jones' body was found in Gore's wastewater ponds in January 2019. He was three years old when he died. (File photo)

The Gore District Council has pleaded guilty to a charge in relation to the death of a toddler who was found in its oxidation ponds.

WorkSafe laid a charge against the council after 3-year-old Lachlan Paul Graham Jones died in January 2019.

On Wednesday, the council, which owns the ponds, entered a guilty plea for an amended charge of failing to ensure so far as was reasonably practical that the workplace was without risks to the health and safety of any person, including Lachlan.

Rachael Woods appeared for WorkSafe and Joseph Lill of Chapman Tripp appeared for the council via AVL before Judge RJ Walker in the Gore District Court.

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The charge carries a maximum fine of $500,000.

The council will be sentenced on March 6.

Neither of Lachlan’s parents appeared in court.

The charge was amended by WorkSafe, which originally laid a charge against the council under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 in March 2020 in relation to the tragic death.

The council pleaded not guilty to that charge and a defended hearing was due to proceed next week.