The husband of outback nurse Gayle Woodford, who was killed in 2016 while working alone at night, has lashed out at a SafeWork SA decision not to prosecute her employer.
Keith Woodford said he received a call from SafeWork SA's Executive Director, Martyn Campbell on Monday, advising him the agency would not press charges against the Nganampa Health Council (NHC).
"He said they've decided not to prosecute Nganampa Health on the advice of their QC … he said there wouldn't be a good chance of a prosecution," Mr Woodford told ABC North and West this morning.
Ms Woodford, 56, was raped and beaten to death while working on-call alone in the remote APY Lands community of Fregon in March 2016.
In 2017, her attacker Dudley Davey was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 32 years.
SafeWork SA's decision not to prosecute her employer comes a year after a coronial inquest into Ms Woodford's death found it could have been avoided.
Deputy Coroner Anthony Schapel found the "obvious solution" for her employer "would have been to make provision for nurses to be accompanied by another person when working on-call at night and to have called for the necessary funding."
"Ms Woodford's death could thereby have been prevented," he said.
The inquest also heard the outback health provider had ignored police advice that its nurses should not work alone.
Mr Woodford said the NHC, where Ms Woodford had worked for five years, had clearly failed his wife.
"They [SafeWork SA] had all that evidence that was brought out in the inquest, but [Mr Campbell] had the audacity to tell me that they can't use it in a court of law," he said.
"All Gayle went out there [to Fregon] for was to help people, and she should be able to go out to work and come home at night. But they [NHC] failed her," he said.
'It's like they don't care'
The decision by SafeWork SA comes after a 2018 ICAC investigation into the agency found it failed to carry out most of the functions expected of it and was at serious risk of corruption.
The Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) launched the evaluation following two high-profile failed prosecutions, and a large number of complaints against the body.
Mr Woodford said SafeWork SA's latest decision was akin to "losing Gayle again."
"We thought this would be a closure, and now it's just causing so much grief," he said.
The coronial inquest made 12 recommendations to improve security for outback nurses, including banning high-risk offenders from living or going to the APY Lands.
SafeWork SA defends decision
In a statement, SafeWork SA defended its decision not to press charges against Nganampa Health Council – saying there was "no reasonable prospect of conviction" if the matter went to trial.
"Having thoroughly investigated the matter and assessed all the evidence with the Crown Solicitor’s Office and after receiving advice from Senior Counsel, SafeWork SA determined that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction," the statement said.
The agency said a reasonable prospect of success at trial was a key criteria for prosecution.
"Offences against the WHS Act are criminal offences and require evidence to the criminal standard of proof (i.e. proof beyond reasonable doubt), as distinct from the Coroner’s Court (i.e. balance of probabilities)," it said.
It also defended the thoroughness of its year-long investigation into NHC.
"The complexity of the investigation required the full 12-month period to thoroughly complete inquiries, which included seizing and critically examining over 1,200 documents, obtaining statements from all witnesses and also interviewing NHC and Mr Dudley Davey, who was convicted and jailed for the rape and murder of Mrs Woodford."
The Nganampa Health Council has been contacted for comment.
