A coronial inquest into the death of a young boy on a carnival ride on the Mornington Peninsula five years ago has heard the ride started moving faster moments before the fatal accident.
Six-year-old Eugene Mahauariki suffered fatal head injuries when he slipped out of his seat and fell from the Cha-Cha ride at an Easter carnival on the Rye foreshore in April 2017.
Tanji Goodnight was operating a ride near the Cha-Cha when the accident happened and was on the scene within minutes.
In a statement to the inquest, Ms Goodnight said some of Eugene's siblings who were also on the ride told her they had been yelling at the operator to slow down because they had seen Eugene and a young girl next to him slipping in their seat.
"They then told me it was their belief that the ride had then increased in speed and the accident had then occurred," Ms Goodnight's statement said.
But another witness, Chrystal McLeod, who was riding the Cha-Cha at the time, told the inquest she cannot recall it speeding up before the accident.
Ms Goodnight said the operator of the Cha-Cha that afternoon usually worked as an assistant operator.
"I recall [the operator] had previously told me on several occasions at other carnivals that he was never confident in operating the Cha-Cha ride and never wanted to operate it," Ms Goodnight's statement said.
The fatal accident came on the final day of the Easter carnival.
The inquest heard it was just after 5pm and the Cha-Cha was being run for the last time before being packed up.
Accident on last ride of the day
Many of the passengers on the last ride, including Eugene, were the children of carnival workers.
At 132cm tall, Eugene just met the 130cm cut-off to ride without an adult, but he was sitting next to a smaller girl who was 121cm tall.
A sign at the ride indicated any child between 120cm and 130cm must be seated next to an adult.
Ms Goodnight told the inquest the pair should not have been riding together.
"Not at all, not at all," she said.
"Why weren't they separated, why wasn't she with her mother or her father or the older family members?"
The inquest heard the rules for checking the heights of children were sometimes relaxed for the last ride of the day when the children of carnival staff were having a turn.
"That shouldn't be the case, but yes, that happened," Ms Goodnight said.
Another witness, Benjamin Jones, and two of his daughters, aged eight and six, were on the ride with Eugene.
He told the inquest his daughters were not measured and his eight-year-old, who was under the 130cm limit, was seated alone on one of the seats.
Mr Jones became emotional as he detailed the impact the incident had had on his family.
"It could have quite easily happened to my kids, in particular my eight-year-old daughter," he said.
On Monday, the owner of the Cha-Cha ride, Michael Wittingslow, applied to be excused from giving evidence on the grounds he might incriminate himself.
A lawyer for Eugene Mahauariki's family urged the coroner to compel Mr Wittingslow to give evidence, arguing he could provide critical information on safety standards and staff training.
Coroner Sarah Gebert will rule on the application next week.
