Pool operator, education department fined $180k over boy's death on camp

Merrivale Primary School grade two student Cooper Onyett drowned at the Port Fairy pool on May 21, 2021.

The Department of Education, which operates the school, and the Belfast Aquatics committee pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety legislation.

On May 31, 2024, Belfast Aquatics was fined $80,000.

The department was fined $100,000.

The maximum penalty is $1.5 million.

Judge Claire Quin said the fine handed to Belfast Aquatics was significantly reduced given the group's financial position.

She said it was clear the aquatics centre provided a "valuable community service" and its existence relied on funds from fundraising and grants from the local council.

The judge accepted Belfast Aquatics was "very different" from a corporation that ran a similar facility for profit.

She said she found the process of sentencing the committee difficult and noted it was important the penalty was not seen as being relevant to comparable cases due to the volunteer and charitable nature of the organisation.

The amount of the fine is "in no way reflective of the value of Cooper's life", the judge said.

In the lead up to the camp Cooper's mother Skye Meinen said in a form her son was a beginner swimmer with little or no experience in shallow water, but that information was never passed onto the pool.

On the day children who said they could swim were lined up to use an inflatable obstacle course, which was located in up to 1.35-metre water.

A number of children were quickly identified as weak swimmers, including Cooper, and were helped to the shallow end.

Cooper was later seen jumping from the pool's divider rope into the water at the shallow end, and then standing on a dividing wall, which he was directed to get off.

A woman who was swimming with her daughter later saw the boy floating underwater.

Cooper was pulled to the surface but was unable to be revived.

The court heard the swimming abilities of the students were not tested or communicated and there were no standard operating procedures in place for the inflatable device.

Judge Quin said the safety breaches were serious and resulted in "tragic consequences that were avoidable".

She said Cooper was a much-loved little boy and the loss and pain suffered by those close to him was "extremely sad and heart-rending".

Referring to victim impact statements, the judge said the emotion expressed remained raw with "grief issues unresolved and the toll on Cooper's family being very considerable".

She said Cooper's mother spoke of the stark contrast of feeling excited for him to come home from his first camp, and devastated over what actually occurred.

"Tragically she states: 'Instead of running a warm bubble bath to wash the chlorine from his skin, I had to use a dish and face washer from the hospital to wash him down'.

"'I got to comb his hair the way he liked it and took one last look at my final baby before I kissed his forehead goodbye, before he was sent to the morgue.

"'At the end of that day we only came home with a lock of his hair, some feet and hand prints, his bag of belongings we sent with him, and a lot of torment and emptiness'."

WorkSafe executive director health and safety Narelle Beer said there was no excuse for taking a casual approach to the well-known risk of children drowning in public pools.

"It's hard to comprehend how young children could be allowed to use an obstacle course at the deep end of a pool without first taking real steps to objectively assess their swimming abilities," she said.

"Families also place their trust in education providers to care for their children, it's not enough just to have parents tick a box on a form, schools must use this information for its intended purpose - to help keep children safe.

"These failures have tragically led to every parent's worst nightmare and our hearts go out to Cooper's family and loved ones who should never have had to face such a terrible loss."