Adjournment of COVID Court Case Against Victorian Aged Care Home Due to ‘Unfortunate Situation’, Lawyers Say
The defense for St. Basil’s Home for the Aged argued that their case would be ‘hamstrung’ without certain documents. The documents in question were related to a 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at the aged care home and had inadvertently been denied to the defense lawyers. This incident caused a delay in the three-day committal hearing at the Magistrate’s Court on Feb. 7.
These specific documents were intended to be used as evidence by the defense in their case against WorkSafe.
Due to the lack of access to the documents, defense lawyer Conor O’Bryan requested an adjournment to the case in order to speak to state coroner John Cain and secure the necessary access to the documents. The defense emphasized the importance of these documents to their case and emphasized that the situation was unfortunate.
The court granted a six-week adjournment, postponing the case until March 4.
Charges Laid Against St. Basil’s
WorkSafe has charged St. Basil’s Home for The Aged in Victoria with nine breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act following a 23-month investigation into the July 2020 incident.
The alleged breaches include failure to provide a safe working environment, inadequate training and supervision related to COVID-19 precautions, and failure to prevent health and safety risks to employees and others.
If found guilty, St. Basil’s faces a potential maximum penalty of 9,000 penalty points ($1.49 million at the time of the alleged offense) for each of the nine breaches.
In addition to charges against the home, WorkSafe has also brought charges against an individual nurse for working after a positive COVID-19 test and potentially endangering others. Another nurse has also pleaded guilty to not taking proper precautions after testing positive for COVID-19.
