She said images taken in the kitchen were taken out of context to justify 96 criminal charges against the caterer, for example, photographing broken equipment set to be thrown out then falsely claiming it was in use. The 96 charges were later dropped.
Since 2019 Mr Cook has claimed that Dandenong Council targeted his business because the council and chief executive, John Bennie, were stakeholders in a rival catering company in the area, Community Chef.
Claiming the slug was planted, Mr Cook has cited CCTV images showing council worker Elizabeth Garlick standing for 17 seconds in the corner of the kitchen where the slug was later photographed.
Backing up this claim, Ms Rogerson told the inquiry she was two metres away from Ms Garlick’s desk when she began editing an image of the slug to remove traces of the tissue paper that it had allegedly been carried in.
Ms Rogerson noticed a red circle around the tissue paper, “which I believed to be some kind of cropping tool”. When she asked what they were doing, another council worker responded “just cleaning it up”.
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Ms Rogerson said: “I have been away from the City of Greater Dandenong for over two years now, and only now do I feel safe to say that Dandenong Council operates under a culture of corruption and bullying.”
In further evidence that casts doubt on the justification for closing the caterer, the food auditor tasked with inspecting Knox Private Hospital told the inquiry he was “unequivocally certain the patient did not eat sandwiches prepared by I Cook Foods”.
Former Knox Council employee Ray Christy said six caterers supplied food to the hospital kitchen, yet only one was investigated. He detailed those findings in a report to the Health Department hours before it shut down I Cook Foods.
Mr Christy said he was prevented from garnering key evidence such as Ms Painter’s four-day food history or samples from the kitchen, and questioned why she was the only one to have contracted listeriosis considering I Cook Foods supplied pre-packaged food in batches.
“You would think that the same batch of ham would be in every sandwich, not just the one, and it would be distributed to a lot of patients in a hospital ward,” he said.
Labor MP Tien Kieu asked Mr Cook about samples from his kitchen that discovered four strains of listeria, including one closely linked to the patient’s death. Mr Cook replied that two strains of listeria had been detected, both in externally supplied meats.
The inquiry will continue next week when Dandenong Council employees give evidence.
Professor Sutton could also be asked to front the inquiry again.
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Source: | This article originally belongs to smh.com.au
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