The finger-severing accident that INXS's lead guitarist says ended his career and cost him more than $1.2million has been likened to sticking a knife in a live toaster.
Tim Farriss is suing a Sydney boat rental company and two boat owners for negligence over a 2015 accident he claims occurred when anchoring equipment unexpectedly moved, causing his left hand to become trapped under the heavy chain.
He also claims he wasn't properly warned about the equipment.
The finger-severing accident that INXS's lead guitarist Tim Farriss (right, Michael Hutchence with in 1985) says ended his career and cost him more than $1.2million has been likened to sticking a knife in a live toaster
But the musician's story for how his hand ended up trapped didn't add up, the defendants' lawyer contended on Monday, asserting Farriss must have trodden on a deck button that moved the anchor chain back into the boat.
Barrister John Turnbull SC conceded the equipment, which had no guard over the chain, was dangerous but said reasonable care would keep a user out of harm's way.
'I've likened it to a toaster – your toast gets caught in the toaster... you can't just stick a knife in there, you've got to turn it off,' Mr Turnbull said.
He also denied the machine was defective.
Pictured: the anchor winch equipment aboard Sydney boat Omega, on which Mr Farriss's finger was severed in a 2015 accident
But Farriss's lawyer urged Justice Richard Cavanagh to widen his gaze to include the entire boat trip, including Farriss driving into northern Sydney's Akuna Bay on the Australia Day weekend and being unable to find a mooring.
As Farriss dropped anchor, the equipment failed and the musician was left drifting, in wind, on a busy weekend, barrister Adrian Williams said.
'He could not sit and twiddle his thumbs, he didn't have a mooring to go to, he had to do something,' he said.
