Inquest rocked by new claim

A WITNESS in an inquest into the death of a roofer on King Island will be recalled today to answer explosive allegations made by the deceased man’s brother in court.

Roofing contractor Luke Gorrie told the inquest into his brother Kurt’s death in December, 2014, that he had complained to the supervisor on the job that a crane was needed back on site to move roofing iron into a place where it would not need to be moved manually.

Mr Gorrie told coroner Simon Cooper yesterday that he told De Jonge Contractors supervisor Stuart Wynwood to call his boss and ask for the crane to return to the King Island Airport site on which they were working.

Mr Gorrie said his request for the crane to return was denied because of cost so he, his brother and apprentice Jacob Brown climbed onto the roof to move it by hand so they could get on with the job.

The trio were only on the roof for 10 minutes moving some of the iron when Kurt, 28, fell six metres to his death.

Mr Cooper said he would recall Mr Wynwood to answer queries about Mr Gorrie’s allegations. “We wanted the sheets re-craned, they were in the wrong place. Stuart rang to tell John De Jonge he needed to get the crane guy back but was told no,” Mr Gorrie said.

Asked why he had not made that specific allegation during interviews with Workplace Standards in the wake of the tragedy, Mr Gorrie said he was “a scrambled mess” at the time but he had alluded to the fact in his affidavit.

Mr Gorrie admitted he lied in his sworn affidavits to police and workplace authorities in the wake of the accident about Mr Brown being on the roof.

“His father had attempted suicide and I wanted to spare the family any more grief. It made sense at the time but the truth is the truth. He was on the roof and saw what happened,” Mr Gorrie said.

Mr Brown told the coroner he had seen Kurt Gorrie stand on a beam which had snapped before he plunged to the concrete below. None of the men on the roof that day was wearing a harness.

In evidence earlier, Mr Wynwood told the coroner the iron had been put up on the roof of the airport terminal extension on November 7, a month before the Gorries were due to fly in to finish the job.

Mr Wynwood said he did not know the Gorrie brothers were on the roof before he heard Kurt fall.

“We were going to have morning tea then talk about the job ahead,” he said.

The inquest continues today.