Spiros Vasilakis has expressed his outrage after all charges against Victoria’s Department of Health were dropped on Thursday following the state’s COVID-19 hotel quarantine program.
Mr Vasilakis’ mother Maria died in 2020 after a COVID-19 outbreak hit St Basil’s aged care home in Fawkner, Victoria.
A coronial inquest into the deaths of 45 residents from COVID-19 at St Basil’s Fawkner is currently in limbo after the facility’s managers refused to provide any evidence.
Mr Vasilakis told AAP he fears the recent decision that saw the hotel quarantine case dropped could also put other cases related to individual outbreaks – including the inquest into St Basil’s Fawkner – at risk.
“It’s a joke,” he said. “Those of us who lost family, all of us would just be bewildered and gobsmacked.”
“[It’s] saying no one’s responsible for those lives, when we know there were actual individuals responsible for allowing the virus to spread.”
WorkSafe charged the Victorian Department of Health in September 2021 with 58 breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a 15-month investigation into the bungled system.
But the case was canned days out from trial after the County Court threw out evidence unearthed during a separate judicial inquiry.
The charges were dropped on Tuesday, with the Office of Public Prosecutions not fighting a bid to abandon the proceedings.
Source: Yahoo news.
