AN heroic Islander who died in the aftermath of the Haut du Mont disaster helped ensure the “safe evacuation” of a fellow resident despite herself being “thrown out of bed” during the fatal explosion, jurors heard on Friday.
Kathy McGinness (73) died on Christmas Day 2022 after sustaining an injury to her spinal cord as a result of the Haut du Mont explosion on 10 December 2022.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, told the Royal Court on Friday that Ms McGinness had been living in Block I of the social housing building when the blast occurred.
It was heard, as part of a series of agreed facts, that the Islander rang the emergency services at 3.54am on the 10 December to report the explosion.
“Following the explosion,” the prosecutor continued, “Ms McGinness was transported to the Town Hall with the other Haut du Mont residents.
“Later that day, Ms McGinness became unwell and was admitted to Jersey General Hospital. Whilst in the hospital, Ms McGinness reported having been thrown out of the bed when the explosion occurred.”
Advocate Thomas explained that the 73-year-old had sustained “an injury to her spinal cord” because of the explosion, which “progressively worsened” during her time in hospital.
“Her death was a direct consequence of the first explosion, the cause of which was a lower respiratory tract infection and spinal cord injury”, he stated.
Peter Bowler, 72, Billy Marsden, 62, Derek Ellis, 61, Sylvia Ellis, 73, Ken Ralph, 72, Jane Ralph, 71, Romeu De Almeida, 67, Louise De Almeida, 64 and Raymond Brown, 71 also lost their lives as a result of the gas explosion.
It was heard that the bodies of the deceased Islanders “were recovered between 11 and 15 December 2022” by a team of emergency services officers.
A post mortem examination later concluded that “each of the nine victims died as a result of injuries sustained as a result of the explosion at Haut du Mont and the collapse of Block H”.
Continuing the agreed facts, Advocate Thomas told juror that the Haut du Mont explosion “was caused by the ignition of gas that was released from the manifold in Block H”.
“There was no other sources of flammable gas or substance that could have caused the explosion,” he continued.
“The explosion could not have occurred if all the ECVs [Emergency Control Valves] on the manifold in Block H were closed and plugged.
“It is therefore agreed that at least one of the ECVs must have been open and unplugged.”
Jurors heard that ECVs “D, E and F” on the Block H manifold were found to have been left unplugged prior to the explosion.
Several agreed facts were then read out pertaining to a “pressure test”: a test designed to ensure that there are no leaks within a gas pipe or a network of gas pipes.
Advocate Thomas previously suggested that a pressure test was not conducted because Island Energy workers were in a “rush” to reconnect gas supply to the St Helier Yacht Club, after accidentally disconnecting it earlier that day.
“Had the Island Energy policies in force on 9 December 2022 been followed, a pressure test would have been conducted prior to reintroducing gas,” Advocate Thomas said.
A further agreed fact stated that the pressure test – in tandem with the need to “purge” the reconnected gas pipes – “would have a taken a significant amount of time.”
“The decision should have been taken that the Yacht Club could not have been reconnected that day”, he said.
Neil Armstrong (58), John Wright (60) and Lee Ward (59) each deny ten counts of gross negligence manslaughter.
Jersey Gas, which trades as Island Energy, denies two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.
Commissioner Andrew Oldland is presiding.
The trial continues.
