• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Kmart ordered to pay $60,000 after six-year-old girl suffered horrifying eye injury in Aussie store

Home> News

Updated 04:30 1 Nov 2022 GMTPublished 22:48 31 Oct 2022 GMT

Kmart ordered to pay $60,000 after six-year-old girl suffered horrifying eye injury in Aussie store

Her eyelid was almost torn clean off in the shocking accident that has left her permanently scarred.

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

An Australian family has been awarded AUD$60,000 (£33,400, USD$38,300) after a grim incident at Kmart saw her nearly lose her eyelid.

The six-year-old girl was shopping with her grandmother in Sydney's Chatswood store in January 2020 when the horrifying moment occurred.

The little girl was trying to reach an item of clothing but lost her balance.

Advert

Before her grandmother could do anything to stop her from falling, the youngster struck her face on an exposed hook on a rack and ripped open her eyelid.

The young girl tore her eyelid on a metal hook.
Nine News

"[She] wanted to get a pink T-shirt and she reached up to get it off the hook. Her grandma was right next to her looking at the sizes," the girl's mother told the NSW District Court, as per Nine News.

"It was so sudden. It all happened in less than a second. [She] wasn't running around or doing anything silly. No matter how careful her grandma was, she could not have prevented it."

She was rushed to a Sydney hospital with blood gushing from the wound where she then underwent extensive surgery to save her eyelid.

Advert

The six-year-old has been left with significant trauma and scarring after the incident, with the parents suing the store for negligence.

Luckily, the child's eye was uninjured but some of her muscles, nerves, and the lacrimal gland in her eye socket have been left damaged.

The child is now afraid of going to school and struggles to sleep alone due to the trauma.

"[She] was very afraid and scared of facing her school teachers and classmates because she thinks she looks horrible,” her mother told the NSW District Court.

The mother added her child used to go to bed with 'no stress' but, as per the Daily Telegraph, she has cried before bedtime every night and can't sleep without her parents by her side.

Advert

Kmart.
martin berry / Alamy

Lawyers for Kmart admitted that it had breached its duty of care to its customers but tried to blame the little girl's issues after the incident on an unrelated stomach problem.

The court disagreed, with Judge Robert Montgomery ordering the discount chain to pay $59,929.36 plus court costs to the family.

Now her parents are on a crusade to see Kmart stores made safer for children.

Her mother told the court that she visited the same store last week and found the racks had not been changed after her daughter's horrific injuries.

Advert

"I was angry because it was all the same. The hooks and the display are still there, there were no signs," she said, as per Nine News.

"If they don't make changes then [she] will not be the only one injured."

Kmart, however, claims they now use special caps to cover the apparel arm ends.

"Following the incident, Kmart rolled out rubber caps to be placed on top of all hang rail arms across our stores and these are regularly maintained to try and ensure no similar incidents occur again," a Kmart spokesperson said.

They added: "Kmart accepts the Court’s judgement in this case and extends our best wishes to [the little girl] and her family."

Featured Image Credit: Nine News. Martin Berry/Alamy.

Topics: Australia, News

Rachel Lang
Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

X

@rlangjournalist

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

5 hours ago
6 hours ago
8 hours ago
  • 5 hours ago

    Girl, 9, dies after mum left her in the car whilst she went to work

    She was left unattended in the car for hours

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    Incredible photo shows woman hanging on to tree before being rescued from freak flood that killed 27

    The woman had been swept 20 miles downriver before being rescued

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Man robbed bank claiming 'it was art' and filmed the whole thing

    Gonna have to try this one

    News
  • 8 hours ago

    Someone made a £5000 Bitcoin investment in 2011 and has now made ridiculous profit 14 years later

    Maybe they're a time traveller who did what we all dream of

    News
  • Horrifying ‘Alien’ That Washed Up On Aussie Beach Has Finally Been Identified