A Queensland court has handed down the state’s first industrial manslaughter sentence after a worker was hit and killed by a forklift at a car wrecking yard.

June 11, 2020

Queensland’s first sentence for industrial manslaughter has been handed down, with an auto wrecking company fined $3 million over the death of a worker.

Tiger Barry Willis, 58, died eight days after he was pinned between a forklift and a truck at Brisbane Auto Recycling in May last year.

Company directors Asadullah Hussaini, 25, and Mohammad Ali Jan Karimi, 23, were sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, wholly suspended, after they pleaded guilty to engaging in reckless conduct. The company was convicted and fined.

Hussaini also lied about Mr Wilis’s death, telling authorities he had fallen from a truck and Karimi suggested the CCTV footage of the incident may not be required.

Mr Willis’s daughter, Josephine Cleeland, says it was traumatising to hear the details of her father’s death and the level of the men’s deceit.

“At the time it happened I was angry and overwhelmed. Now, it is more hurt and heartache to think that people could place blame on a victim,” she told reporters outside court on Thursday.

Mr Willis’s family is still mourning the much-loved father-of-four and grandfather-of-six’s death

“He was an old-school larrikin … We were special to him but not like his grandchildren. More than anything he was a pop,” she said.

Judge Anthony Rafter told the Brisbane District Court Hussaini and Karimi’s conduct led to Mr Willis’s death.

The men had not bothered to implement safety systems to protect its workers despite operating Brisbane Auto Recycling for four years, he said.

“Whether due to expediency for commercial gain or complacency, or both, the moral culpability of each is high.”

“The defendants knew of the potential consequences and the risk which was catastrophic.”

After Mr Willis was struck, Hussaini told a triple-zero operator, paramedics and a doctor that he had fallen from the truck in an attempt to deflect blame from his company.

He also initially lied to investigators about who was driving the forklift.

The actual driver was later found to be an unlicensed worker, who has been charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death.

Karimi delayed handing over CCTV footage of the incident.

He also suggested to Ms Cleeland Mr Willis did not winch a car properly and it fell back onto him.

“That was disgraceful behaviour occurring as it did when Mr Willis’s daughter was greatly distressed,” Judge Rafter said.

Both men later cooperated with investigators and pleaded guilty to the reckless conduct charges, which relate to their failure to ensure the business had effective safety systems in place.

Brisbane Auto Recycling pleaded guilty to causing his death for failing to effectively separate pedestrians from a mobile plant and supervise workers.

The company had no WorkCover and was also nine months behind in superannuation payments for staff.

Hussaini and Karimi came to Australia as teenage refugees in 2010, having fled Afghanistan after they were violently kidnapped.

Outside court, their lawyer Harold Downes said the men were deeply sorry over Mr Willis’s death.

“They have learned some very hard and sharp lessons,” he said.

The maximum penalty for reckless conduct is five years’ imprisonment or $600,000 fine.

Corporate industrial manslaughter offenders are liable for a fine of up to $10 million.