Nathan Luke Stevens Cleared After Worker’s Electrocution at Queensland Pineapple Farm

Incident Overview

On Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 25-year-old Cody Smith was fatally electrocuted when a pineapple harvester came into contact with a sagging high-voltage power line at Lake Mary Pines near Bungundarra, approximately 50 kilometres from Rockhampton in central Queensland. Six workers received electrical shocks in the incident; Smith died from his injuries, while others were hospitalised.

Following a four-year legal process involving multiple trials and appeals, Nathan Luke Stevens, a director of the Lake Mary Pines trust, was cleared of all charges in October 2025 when the Brisbane District Court set aside a guilty verdict and reinstated his original acquittal.

• Fatalities:
  • On Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 25-year-old Cody Smith was fatally electrocuted when a pineapple harvester came into contact with a sagging high-voltage power line at Lake Mary Pines near Bungundarra, approximately 50 kilometres from Rockhampton in central Queensland
• Injuries:
  • Five other workers received electric shocks and were hospitalised.

• On Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 25-year-old Cody Smith was fatally electrocuted when a pineapple harvester came into contact with a sagging high-voltage power line at Lake Mary Pines near Bungundarra, approximately 50 kilometres from Rockhampton in central Queensland

In Summary

In late October 2025, Judge Lincoln Crowley delivered judgment setting aside the guilty verdict and reinstating Nathan Stevens’s original acquittal. The court ruled that evidence could not determine when the power line had sagged to the dangerous height that caused the fatal contact. Crowley stated: “It is uncertain when the power line sagged to the height that it was at the time of the incident.” WHSQ was ordered to pay court costs following Stevens’s successful appeal. Separately, Ergon Energy was fined $300,000 in 2023 for failing to meet its safety obligations regarding the power line.