A man is currently on trial over the death of a teenager who fell to his death whilst working at a worksite in Perth. 

Wesley Ballantine, 17, was helping to install glass at the GPO building in Forrest Place in January 2017 when the tragic accident occurred. 

The accused is Luke Fraser Corderoy, who was allegedly a director of Industrial Construction Services (ICS), the company contracted to carry out the work on the site.

According to prosecutor Tanya Hollaway, Mr Corderoy was helping to run ICS alongside Adam Forsyth and was responsible for making important decisions and acting on behalf of the company. 

The court heard that the incident took place during the construction of the atrium roof after hours, and that there were several safety hazards present at the time. 

Ms Hollaway informed the court that not enough plywood had been purchased, resulting in “open voids” and that there were inadequate safety measures in place, making it inherently unsafe. 

Furthermore, there was no safety harness provided to workers, and no material strong enough to prevent someone from falling.

The court was also told that Mr Corderoy and Mr Forsyth were both present at the worksite when the tragedy occurred, with Mr Ballantine falling 12 metres to his death whilst working alongside Mr Corderoy. 

Ms Hollaway asserted that as a manager, Mr Corderoy had failed in his duty to ensure proper training and safety measures were in place, as well as neglecting to provide the necessary equipment to prevent such an accident.

In his opening statement, Mr Corderoy, who was representing himself, denied responsibility for the incident, claiming that he had nothing to do with the installation or management of staff. 

He detailed his work history leading up to his involvement with ICS and stated that he had only agreed to do design work for the company and had no involvement in fabrication or staff management. He claimed that he was rarely present on-site and that all decisions had to go through Mr Forsyth.

Senior Constable Matthew Healy was the first witness to be called in the trial, and recounted his experience of arriving at the site and finding several workers in shock and performing CPR on Mr Ballantine.