COVID Court Case Against Victorian Aged Care Home Adjourned, Lawyers Cite ‘Unfortunate Situation’
Published on February 8, 2024
A criminal case against a Victorian aged care home, central to a deadly 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, has faced a delay due to a document oversight. Defence lawyers for St. Basil’s Home for the Aged were denied access to key state coronial documents one day before a three-day committal hearing was due to take place at the Magistrate’s Court on Feb. 7. These documents, containing evidence on the COVID-19 outbreak at St. Basil’s, were to be used by the defence as key evidence in their case against WorkSafe. But on Feb. 7, when the case was called, defence lawyer Conor O’Bryan applied for an adjournment to the case to allow him time to speak to state coroner John Cain, and to allow the “necessary steps” of securing access to the documents....