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Prosecution ‘epically’ long A judge has reserved his decision in sentencing an ‘epically long’ WorkSafe prosecution against Talley’s over an incident that left a woman in a wheelchair. Talley’s Group Limited appeared for sentencing in front of Judge Kevin Phillips in the Ashburton District Court on Monday, after WorkSafe laid charges against the company relating to an incident in May 2015. The charges were first laid by WorkSafe in 2015, but a guilty plea was only entered in February 2020, after the matter made it all the way to the Supreme Court following
numerous appeals from both parties due to procedural issues around how the charges were laid and set-out in the first instance. After drawn out negotiations, Talley’s eventually pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of its employee contrary to the Health and Safety in Employment Act. The victim, Te Atatu Hemi, was paralysed after a bulk bin being carried by a forklift fell on her. The sentencing hearing opened on Monday with Hemi reading her victim impact statement to the court.
Following the incident she spent two days in hospital followed by three months at the Burwood Spinal Unit. She told the court she still suffers pain in the nerves in her legs, suffers occasional spasms that throw her from her wheelchair and incontinence due to having no feeling from the mid-torso down. “I have always worked hard to provide for my whanau, I dreamed of buying my own house and travelling,” she said. “I dreamed of seeing the pyramids, but I won’t be able to do that.” Hemi told the court of how her injuries
have impacted on her day-to-day life, leaving her unable to do the everyday tasks she would have previously, and making spending time with her friends and family a struggle. She also told the court she felt the leaders of the company had made her feel like she was not important, and that other staff and the company cared more about her, and that she now worries about them.
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