Twenty-six-year-old Shylah Rodden is fighting for her life after she was thrown nine meters into the air when she was hit by a rollercoaster in January 2018.
Her family has launched legal action against the ride’s operators. In three previous accidents, she had been involved in various falls.
Her first similar accident occurred in February 2019, and she got involved in a serious car crash the following year. Then, in January 2021, she hit a truck and had her car flipped.
Ms Rodden was critically injured after she got hit by a tram ride at the Melbourne Royal Show on Sunday. She is currently in a coma and remains in a critical condition.
Her family filed a writ on Friday to protect her rights following the 2018 incident. According to Aki Munir, a practice manager at Arnold Thomas and Becker, Ms Rodden’s family might sue the operators of the Rebel Coaster and the Melbourne Royal Show for negligence.
Ms Munir also stated that the family might file a lawsuit against the Royal Show and the ride’s operators.
On the day of the incident, Ms Rodden was working at a friend’s stall at the Royal Show. After a break, she and her friend decided to go on a few thrill rides to kill time.
It’s believed that she accidentally dropped her phone on the ride’s tracks. The police believe that Ms Rodden then went back to retrieve it.
After she got involved in a serious car crash in Melbourne in January 2021, Ms Rodden had to learn how to walk again. She was thrown from the vehicle after it collided with a truck and a car.
Although she survived the crash, she required significant rehabilitation to regain her strength and was supported by her supportive parents.
She suffered another setback two months before she was hit by the rollercoaster by the death of her brother Jason.
‘Dad sat me down and told me that my brother had passed away,’ she wrote few days before the accident.
‘He wasn’t just my big brother, he was my best friend, my everything, the person I looked up to and inspired to be like.’