UK Athletics will have to pay more than $470,000 in fines in the corporate manslaughter case involving Paralympian Abdullah Hayayei who was killed in a training accident in East London in 2017 when a practice cage collapsed on his head.
Hayayei, who was set to was compete for the United Arab Emirates at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in the shot put later that month, was practicing at the Newham Leisure Centre on July 11, 2017 when the cage fell on him. He was 36.
The cage was found to have not been properly set up and a base plate, an important part of the structure, was missing.
Keith Davies, 79, was head of sport for the 2017 World Paralympic Athletics Championships, admitted a health and safety charge and entered a guilty plea on health and safety charges. Davies was given a community order of 175 hours of unpaid work.
He avoided facing a trial after submitting his guilty plea in February at the same time UK Athletics pleaded guilty to the corporate manslaughter charges. UK Athletics will also have to pay around $60,000 in costs associated with the case. All of the fines will be paid over six years.
In a sentencing briefing, Judge Richard Marks KC said that Hayayei’s death was “tragic, untimely and wholly avoidable,” but not a “one-off” incident and reflective of pattern of lax actions by UK Athletics that put athletes at risk when it came to its assembly and maintenance of equipment.
But he did note that imposing an even higher fine would significantly hamper the governing body’s ability to serve elite athletes and further its community outreach.
