Aged care managers lose appeal to avoid giving evidence at COVID deaths inquest

The managers of an aged care home where 50 residents died during a COVID-19 outbreak will have to give evidence in a coronial inquest. Kon Kontis and Vicky Kos, senior managers at St Basil’s Aged Care Home in Fawkner, refused to give evidence at the inquest on the basis it could incriminate them. However, the Court of Appeal upheld a decision ordering the duo to give evidence. The two are still able to lodge one more appeal with the High Court of Australia. Mr Kontis was chairman of the home at the time of the deaths and Ms Kos was the facility manager. The inquest into the deaths began in November 2021, and heard devastating accounts from 55 witnesses. John Karantzis from Carbone Lawyers, who is representing the families of the residents who died, said the decision will allow the inquiry to continue. “The families need to know what was happening on those days, during that time when their loved ones were dying and left alone, cold, dying in their own beds at the facility,” he said.