NSW: Ex-policeman wants to sue over horrific events

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2008
NSW: Ex-policeman wants to sue over horrific events

By Margaret Scheikowski

SYDNEY, April 17 AAP - A policeman suffered psychiatric injury from attending traumatic
events including an incident in which human flesh fell into his mouth, a Sydney judge
has been told.

The incident occurred in 1992 when Christopher Cavanagh was required to recover pieces
of the body of a worker who had fallen into a garbage shredder at a Sydney railway station.

While the incident led to his being medically discharged in 1994, the one-time NSW
Police Rescue Squad officer had attended other horrific scenes, including the 1977 Granville
rail disaster and a death scene where dogs had eaten part of a man.

Mr Cavanagh, now 58, of Northmead in Sydney's west, wants to take NSW Supreme Court
damages action against the State, claiming he suffered psychiatric injury as a result
of its negligence.

He said the negligence included failures to ensure an appropriate police psychologist
was available for him after traumatic or life-threatening events, and to have him regularly
medically examined in relation to the events.

Because the statutory time limit has expired for him to take court action, his lawyers
today asked Justice Michael Grove for an extension of time so his case could go ahead.

The application was opposed by the State, on grounds including the unavailability of
records relevant to the case because of the time delay.

Mr Cavanagh said it was not until after he gave evidence in a case involving another
police rescue worker in 2003 that he became aware that the police department may have
been negligent in relation to his exposure to various traumatic incidents.

"Up until that time I had simply tried to do my best and get on with my life as best
I could having regard to the stress under which I felt," he said.

He claimed the exposure to the traumatic events led to his suffering post-traumatic
stress, depression, shock and emotional breakdown.

Mr Cavanagh, who began working for the police in 1974, told the judge he only became
aware of the police psychology unit when he was debriefed after the shredder incident.

In his affidavit, he said he had been required to recover each piece of the man's body
and try to lay them out.

"At one stage, a piece of the body fell into my mouth, which made me ill," he said.

Although he told the debriefing officers of his concerns and need for blood tests,
he said nothing was arranged and he had to organise them himself.

He also referred to his rescue work at the Granville rail disaster, where people were
screaming out in agony and he saw body parts flattened.

"I will never forget the mutilation and distortion of the bodies at the scene of the
accident and in the portable morgue and it remains very vivid in my mind today," he said.

The judge reserved his decision to an unspecified date.

AAP mss/hn/srp/cdh

KEYWORD: CAVANAGH

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