A Foxton contractor has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter over the death of a young forestry worker.
Paul Robert Burr appeared in the High Court at Palmerston North this morning. He is charged in relation to the death of Lincoln Kidd, who was killed while working in a forestry block last December.
It is alleged Burr failed to take all reasonable precautions to avoid such danger as causing death while operating a Volvo tree-felling harvester.
Justice Simon France, presiding via video link from Wellington, accepted the not guilty plea and set down a trial date for August 2015.
The Crown also filed an application to join health and safety charges laid by Workplace NZ with the manslaughter charge. Justice France granted this request and remanded Burr on bail until the trial.
Burr is the first person in New Zealand to be charged with manslaughter over the death of a forestry worker. Ten people were killed in the industry last year.
Mr Kidd was one of only three men working the day he died. He was struck by a falling tree and despite first aid attempts from his colleagues, he died at the scene.
By Alecia Rousseau of the Manawatu Guardian
