The case against two companies facing charges of a health and safety breach following the death of a construction worker has been adjourned for committal to the Court of General Gaol Delivery.
Gareth Sowden, aged 55, of Castletown Avenue in Douglas, was working as a mechanical engineer at a sewage treatment plant in Balleira Road, Kirk Michael, at the time of the fatal accident in May 2013.
Balthane-based JCK Ltd has pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to discharge its duty.
Specialist contractor Tuke and Bell Ltd, based in England, has entered a guilty plea to the same charge.
Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes told the court a 3.5m high unit had been left in an unstable upright position and had posed a serious risk to the health and safety of workers and a potential risk to members of the public who may have attempted to use the nearby car park.
She told Tuke and Bell’s advocate, Jim Travers, that an early starting point for a financial penalty, given the company’s early guilty plea, was a fine of £30,000.
But because Tuke and Bell’s basis of plea differed so much from the prosecution case, she said she was not prepared to sentence on that basis and it had to be heard at a higher court.
So the Deputy High Bailiff adjourned the matter until July 14 for committal to the Court of General Gaol Delivery, for trial in the case of JCK Ltd and for sentence in the case of Tuke and Bell Ltd.