The Court imposed a $50,000 fine (reduced from $119,000 for incapacity to pay) on a sole director for failing to exercise due diligence under s 27 WHS Act where a 200kg sliding gate lacking adequate end stops fell onto a mother and her three children. The Court held that prosecutors must plead only particulars evincing the gravamen of the offence and deprecated the 'kitchen sink' approach of reciting the s 27(5) due diligence obligations wholesale, and further held that agreed facts must address the officer's personal failures and capacity to ensure compliance, not merely the company's failures. On capacity to pay, the Court accepted incomplete but unchallenged sworn evidence of limited means, applying Inspector Fraser v Karabelas flexibility for individual directors of small companies, but emphasised that ordinarily incomplete financial evidence will leave the court unable to be satisfied of incapacity.
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