Appeal Seeks Higher Penalties in Conveyor Scalping Case

Prosecutors are appealing a sentence handed down by an Australian court in January ordering a fruit company to pay a AUD$72,000 fine for its role in a 2015 conveyor belt accident that left a woman scalped.

Documents were filed Wednesday challenging the court’s ruling.

Powder & Bulk Solids reported in an earlier article that that the woman, identified as 22-year-old Irish citizen Annie Dunne, was working at a Kalafatis Packing Pty Ltd facility in Shepparton, Australia while backpacking in the country. Her hair became entangled in an operational conveyor belt while cleaning under the machinery, severing one of her ears and tearing off her scalp.

Kalafatis Packing was ordered in court to pay the fine but did not receive a conviction. Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Gavin Sibert QC, the appeal’s author, called the sentence “manifestly inadequate,” a report by the Australian Associated Press said.  

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