By Tyler Wright
The Coroners Court of Victoria has described the death of a man at a reserve in Belgrave nearly three years ago as a “tragic accident,” after an investigation into the condition of a fallen tree that left Christoper Wrigglesworth with multiple injuries.
Christopher, 59, was leaving the carpark behind the local Woolworths on 27 August 2020 in his partner’s 2015 white Hyundai i30 when a tree from a nearby reserve fell on the vehicle, pinning him inside.
While nobody saw the tree fall, a witness coming out of the supermarket noted a massive gust of wind and then ‘a big boom,’ according to Coroner Leveasque Peterson’s report released on Thursday 13 July 2023.
The witness turned to the direction of the sound, saw the tree on the car, and attended to Christopher, providing reassurance and holding his hand until police arrived.
Another witness saw the tree resting on the car and ran across the road to the Belgrave Police Station to ask for help, while other witnesses started using small chainsaws to try and cut some branches off the fallen tree.
“When officers from Belgrave Police Station attended, they noted that the police radio was very busy at the time with multiple calls related to the significant weather—one street nearby had over ten trees fall around the same time with resulting property damage,” Ms Peterson’s report read.
“Officers struggled to give updates over the radio throughout the evening because it was so busy.”
Ambulance Victoria paramedics, members from the Country Fire Authority (CFA), and members from State Emergency Services (SES) attended the scene shortly afterwards, with Christopher trapped for approximately one hour and 30 minutes before CFA and SES members were able to extricate him from the vehicle.
Paramedics were unable to access Christopher below his abdomen due to the degree of entrapment, and assessed his injuries as severe and life threatening.
While he was conscious and able to respond to emergency service workers, Christopher was confused and repeating himself.
Given the extent of the injuries, the plan was for Christopher to be transferred to hospital via the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), when he was conveyed by ambulance to a nearby reserve where the helicopter had landed.
Christopher deteriorated further and became unresponsive as he was being loaded into the helicopter.
Despite significant resuscitative efforts from paramedics including administration of CPR, Christopher died at the scene and could not be revived.
On 28 August 2020 Christoper was visually identified by his brother, Ian Wrigglesworth.
Ian said his brother was “outgoing” and made friends with everyone.
“He’d lived over in the land area [near Ballarat] for probably the last 20 years or so…we grew up in Blackburn South,” Ian said.
“He’d only been [in Tecoma] about six months, but the number of neighbours and the outpouring of grief from neighbours after he passed away was quite amazing, considering he’d only been in there a short time and it was Covid, so it’s not like there was a lot of interaction.”
“They had a couple of chairs out the front of the house, and he and Christina would sit there and people would pass and he’d have a chat and pat their dogs… he had an infectious personality that drew people to him.”
Ian said the pair grew up fairly close, and he was looking forward to having his brother living near him once again.
“I remember something from our childhood when we were about eight or 10, we went somewhere riding billy carts down a hill, and you could see the TV towers of the Dandenongs, and I’ve always tried to work out where that was.
“I’ve always thought ‘I should ask Chris, see if he remembers that.’ I can’t do that now.'”
Both Ian and Christopher were Collingwood supporters, regularly attending football matches together.
“Last year was the first game I went to since before he passed away, because I didn’t have quite the same interest level, even though I followed it fairly closely,” he said.
“You find that you do things and had the edge taken off because ‘I can’t show Chris, I can’t share it with Chris.'”
Ian said Christopher worked as a shift manager for logistics company DP World; organising trucks on and off wharves.
“He’d been in that industry for 30 odd years. They were all in shock as well.
“He had a couple of sheep at one stage and pig and chickens, he loved that life as well.
“He was always a doer…he put his hand to anything and he’d help anyone.”
Christopher is survived by his partner Christina, his three children Alex, Tash and Harry, and two step-children.
“[He’s] very sorely missed by us all,” Ian said.
As part of the investigation into the circumstances of Christopher’s death, the Coroner’s Investigator requested Yarra Ranges Council provide a statement addressing the subject tree failure which was provided by the coordinator of the tree management team.
The report identified the subject tree as Eucalyptus cypellocarpa, known commonly Mountain Grey Gum; a common species indigenous to the Yarra Ranges.
The reserve where the incident occurred is classified as a moderate risk zone; meaning the area, including each tree, is inspected by arborists every two years.
At last review on 30 December 2019, the arborist recommended no action for any of the trees in the reserve.
In addition to Christopher’s death, the Coroner’s Court investigated two other deaths from tree failure which occurred on the same night from the same weather event.
The local councils responsible for those trees each engaged an independent arborist to identify the cause of tree failure as part of their investigation.
This is not the practice of Yarra Ranges Shire Council.
Ms Peterson found Christopher’s death was the result of a “tragic accident” caused by tree failure from significant winds.
“However, without any report from an independent arborist, there is insufficient evidence to determine if there were any further contributing factors about the tree itself that could have made it more susceptible to failure in such conditions,” Ms Peterson said.
“I find that Yarra Ranges Shire Council had in place appropriate processes for regular tree inspection under its Tree Assessment Framework, and that noting the outcome of the most recent inspection, the tree failure could not have been foreseen.”
Ms Peterson said the occurrence of any fatal incident should give rise to a further assessment of risk, which could be achieved by commissioning an additional, independent arborist report.
“Such inspections may reveal issues or problems with trees which are not appreciable on visual tree assessment alone, and thereby enable better identification of preventable causal factors and future prevention opportunities,” she said.
“On 3 July 2023, Yarra Ranges Shire Council indicated that it agreed with the proposed recommendation and intended to incorporate the recommendation into its Tree Policy when it is reviewed over the coming year. I commend the Council on its commitment to improve its processes in this way.”
Christopher left home alone that day to buy some champagne for his sister’s birthday, according to the report.
“I convey my sincere condolences to Christopher’s family for their loss,” Ms Peterson said.
