Gas fitter Christopher Laurie Turner pleads guilty over death of newborn at Bankstown Hospital

A former gas fitter has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and grievous bodily harm after two babies at a Sydney Hospital were mistakenly given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen, leaving one newborn dead and another with lifelong brain injuries.

Christopher Laurie Turner appeared in Downing Centre Local Court on Friday after he was charged in 2022 with the manslaughter of newborn John Ghanem and causing grievous bodily harm by omission relating to a second baby at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in mid-2016.

He initially fought the charges, pleading not guilty in September last year, but on Friday changed his plea.

The father of the second baby told Nine News on Friday: “It’s a big relief this person has finally taken responsibility.”

Turner is scheduled to be sentenced on February 20. A manslaughter conviction carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Police had alleged Turner failed to adhere to Australian standards when certifying oxygen connections at the hospital before John’s death.

A 2021 coronial inquest heard John died within an hour of his birth after he was inadvertently given nitrous oxide – known as “laughing gas” – instead of oxygen from a wall-mounted panel of medical gases in an operating theatre.

The inquest heard pipelines installed in the hospital in the 1990s were mislabelled in the roof, leading to a mix-up during the installation of neonatal resuscitation gas outlets in 2015. But lawyers blockisting the coroner said any deficiencies “would have been obvious” if they were adequately tested and signed off.

Turner was convicted and fined $100,000 in 2021 after pleading guilty in the NSW District Court to failing to comply with a health and safety duty.