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Man 'had no control' over tree he was felling that killed 7yo on wood collecting trip, court told

A Victorian man accused of unintentionally killing his partner's son during a wood collecting trip in southern Tasmania seven years ago had cut the tree incorrectly and therefore had no control over where it fell, a court has heard.

Joshua George Hector Clark is fighting a charge of manslaughter in the Supreme Court in Hobart.

The court earlier heard he and his partner Sierra Lynd were on a wood-cutting cut trip in Mount Lloyd near New Norfolk in August 2015.

The court heard Mr Clark would go "wood-hooking" about five to seven times a week.

On the day in question, Mr Clark, Ms Lynd and the three children had entered a Sustainable Timbers Tasmania permanent timber production zone to collect wood.

A Forestry Tasmania representative earlier told the court Mr Clark did not hold a permit at the time and they would never issue a permit for that area.

The court heard Mr Clark spotted a tree that was leaning on another tree and decided to cut it down because he believed it was dangerous and hanging over the road.

Leaning tree wasn't dangerous, expert says

While he was cutting the tree, Ms Lynd and her three children were waiting in the car.

As she sat chatting to her kids, she suddenly heard Mr Clark yell to "get the f**k out of the car".

"I ripped [the toddler] out of ute by his head and threw him onto the track," she earlier told the court.

"I tried to make sure [Akira] was OK ... then I heard the tree crash."

The tree fell onto the ute, crushing it. Her daughter, who was still inside, suffered only a broken collarbone.

Her seven-year-old son, Akira Carroll, made it out of the car but was hit on the head by the tree.

He was flown to the Royal Hobart Hospital but died the next day.

In court on Wednesday, retired WorkSafe Inspector Roger Geeves, who inspected the scene the day after the incident, told the court he did not consider the tree to be dangerous if it had been left alone.

"I sighted no defects. I would say unless the supporting tree was tampered with … I would say no, not dangerous," he said.

Under defence questioning later, Mr Greeves said there was the potential for the leaning tree to be hazardous.

He also told the court the trees were dangerous to fell and he would have advised against trying.

Clark 'failed to use correct tree felling practices'

Moving onto the method of felling, Mr Greeves said it was his belief the cuts used to fell the tree did not meet the Australian standard.

"He [Mr Clark] hasn't positioned the cuts correctly, hasn't put a scarf in the tree to give it cavity, and there's no holding wood so he hasn't been able to control the fall of tree," he told the court.

"Because of [the] manner of cutting ... the faller had no control over the tree. The tree did what it wanted to do."

His comments echoed the ones he made on the day he inspected the scene.

"The person has failed to use correct tree felling practices," he said back in August 2015.

"The person lost control of [the] tree and looks to me that it's fallen about 90 degrees to the intended line of fall."

Mr Greeves explained that not only were some cuts too deep or on the wrong angle, but he also could not find any evidence of "holding wood" – cuts made to help control the direction of a fall.

He told the court it would have been possible to cut the tree in a way to make it fall parallel with the road, but that did not happen.

Code and standards 'not mandatory'

Mr Geeves also told the court the car was not parked far enough away and when cutting a tree that is close to the road, the road should be blocked off.

Under questioning from defence lawyer Kim Baumeler, Mr Greeves admitted the code and standards were not mandatory and did not apply to people who are collecting wood "domestically" — meaning for themselves.

However, when the prosecution asked if "wood-hooking" would be considered commercial, Mr Greeves agreed.

He also conceded that people did not need a license to operate a chainsaw and they did not need to satisfy that they held a certain level of competency to cut wood for themselves.

However, he said the standards should apply to everyone purely for their own safety.

The trial is continuing.

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