Finding into death of Sharga Amos Taite

17y · Male·Subarachnoid haemorrhage caused by penetrating left orbital injury with a long knife

A 17-year-old meat trimmer sustained an unintentional self-inflicted penetrating left orbital injury with a knife while at work, resulting in a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and death. Despite initial clinical uncertainty about whether the SAH was spontaneous (ruptured aneurysm) or traumatic (knife wound), the coroner found on the balance of probabilities that the knife injury caused the SAH. The contemporaneous nature of the injury and collapse, absence of identified aneurysm, young age of the deceased, and expert consensus that the injury pattern was consistent with penetrating trauma supported this conclusion. Cannabis use (THC detected post-mortem) was unable to be causally linked to the incident due to insufficient dosage information. The coroner declined to make findings about specific work practices, training, or supervision due to lack of eyewitness evidence of the exact circumstances immediately preceding the injury.