A young carpenter was killed in 2017 while completing carpentry work in the ceiling of a home in Sydney’s south, and an inquiry into his death has found that the cables in the home had been “tampered with” to illegally bypass the electricity meter.
Luke Bray was 24 when he died in the incident. He was found slumped over a timber beam in a corner of the roof of the property, with a frayed cable in his right hand. The copper wiring in the cable was exposed.
Builder Brett Anderson, from Hyspec Constructions and Roofing, found Mr Bray after the incident. Mr Bray was discovered after fellow workers heard strange noises coming from the roof of the home.
“I freaked out, I yelled at (another worker) to get me a piece of timber, get me anything, we need to get him off, he’s been electrocuted,” Mr Anderson said, according to Sgt Kelly, who is the counsel assisting the coroner.
Mr Anderson had subcontracted the 24-year-old.
On the day of the incident, according to Sgt Kelly, Mr Anderson “grabbed him (Luke) by the shoes and pulled him away from the cable”. Mr Anderson and a colleague performed CPR on Mr Bray before paramedics arrived, and subsequently pronounced him dead.
Forensic pathologist, Dr Elsie Burger, explained to the court that the injuries found on Mr Bray’s hands were “typical electrical burn wounds”. His death was officially recorded as electrocution.
At the hearing, an Ausgrid installation inspector explained that it was “likely Luke received an electric shock of sufficient magnitude to cause ventricular fibrillation”.
“In his opinion, the likely path of the circuit would have been right hand to right leg, left leg or both legs,” Sgt Kelly said.
In summarising the inspector’s findings, he said “the consumer mains where the accident occurred were found to have been tampered with”, there was “evidence of previous illegal connection” and a conductor had been “terminated in a careless manner”.
There was evidence heard that the previous tenant of the home had recorded suspiciously low power consumption for a home of the size. According to Sgt Kelly, “the energy consumption remained below average until [the tenant] moved out of the premises.”
The tenant was interviewed four months after Mr Bray’s death by police.
“She stated she knew nothing about any illegal bypass from her meter and also stated that she had never been up in the roof space,” Sgt Kelly said.
Sgt Kelly has alleged that the police received information that the tenant’s brother had
He alleged in June 2017, police also received information that Ms Hamade’s brother “been responsible for allegedly setting up the illegal wiring of 16 Short St, Carlton for the purpose of stealing electricity from the grid”.
Sgt Kelly explained that the line of investigation was aimed at determining the nature and cause of Mr Bray’s death, and ““if possible, who was responsible for creating the illegal bypass in the ceiling at 16 Short St, Carlton”.
The inquest into Luke’s death continues in the NSW Coroner’s Court.