Backpacker falls to her death.  Tour company guilty of WHS offence

  A Northern Territory tour company has been convicted and fined after admitting to health and safety failures in the case of a British backpacker who fell to her death while posing for a photo at a popular tourist spot at Kings Canyon in Central Australia.  

A English backpacker, Zoe Woolmer, was on a guided tour of Kings Canyon in June 2014 when she tried to have her photo taken on the Rim Walk at Kestrel Falls but died after stumbling backwards off a hidden cliff ledge.  She fell 30m backwards onto rocks below. 

An inquest into her death heard the directors of the company, The Rock Tour, said they knew nothing of the stunt but acknowledged they should have been aware. 

NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh accused directors of The Rock Tours of “wilful blindness” in his findings handed down last year. 

Mr Cavanagh said there was “sufficient evidence to suggest that if the directors had paid any attention they would have known their guides were involved in these dangerous practices”. 

In the Alice Springs Local Court, Judge David Bamber said the tour guide encouraged Ms Woolmer and others to attempt the dangerous photo stunt. 

Judge Bamber said to allow someone to go to the unmarked area at the top of the walk was "clearly a significant breach". 

There were "clear warnings signs" and the danger was "obvious", the court heard. 

"Anybody who thought sensibly about it would not have allowed this to happen," he added. 

The company's directors, Jolyon George and Rob Cowan, were convicted and fined $140,000.  The directors were also ordered to pay $12,290 in legal costs to NT Worksafe.