There are “tens of thousands” of pages of evidence to be assessed in the case of a former tradie accused of a fatal gas mix-up which left one newborn baby dead and another with brain damage.
Christopher Turner, 61, appeared in Burwood Local Court on Wednesday after being charged with manslaughter of a newborn boy and causing grievous bodily harm by a negligent act or omission relating to a second baby.
Police will allege the former BOC gas fitting contractor failed to adhere to Australian standards when certifying oxygen connections within the neonatal medical gas outlet at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital.
The first baby had been alive for less than an hour when he died in July 2016 after he was ventilated with nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas.
The gas was administered through a gas port labelled ‘oxygen’ in an operating theatre at the western Sydney hospital.
A month before the baby boy’s death, another newborn suffered brain damage, epilepsy, and blindness after she was given laughing gas during an emergency resuscitation.
Police allege Mr Turner was responsible for the administration of 100 per cent nitrous oxide instead of oxygen which resulted in the baby boy’s death and permanent disability for the other baby.
On Wednesday, his lawyer Michael Langenheim asked the court for an eight-week adjournment to allow time to assess the “sheer volume of material” in the case.
He estimated there were “tens of thousands of pages” of evidence to assess, which he said had been delivered to Mr Turner’s defence team “in a piecemeal fashion”.
Crown prosecutor Hannah Purcell denied the claim that the evidence had been delivered haphazardly but agreed it was “a very substantial brief”.
Magistrate Vivien Swain agreed to adjourn the matter until November 15 to give Mr Langenheim enough time to assess the extensive evidence in his client’s case.
Mr Turner will remain on bail.
The former tradie was fined $100,000 in 2020 over the fatal mix-up after he pleaded guilty to failing in his duty under the Work Health and Safety Act.
He was arrested in August and charged after the DPP provided advice to the police.
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