First Class Constable Dean Wotherspoon, one of the first responders to the Hillcrest primary school tragedy, described the efforts to save the children as ‘organised chaos.’
Constable Wotherspoon presented forensic evidence before Coroner Oliver Mctaggart on wednesday, as part of an inquest examining the deaths of six children after a freak wind threw a jumping castle into the air in December 2021.
The Court also heard the carabiners used to anchor the inflatable structure were not rated as load bearing and were likened to toys.
However larger anchoring devices were found in a trailer owned by the jumping castle operator, who had previously been acquitted of criminal charges.
Constable Wotherspoon also spoke to the lasting impacts of the tragedy, saying it had ‘hastened’ the end of some officers careers.
Police Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar will take the stand on Friday.
