A 12-year-old boy was horrifically "scalped" in a shocking freak while on a carousel ride - but the has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The young boy suffered severe injuries at in Queensland, , and the theme park's operator - Village Roadshow Theme Parks - was accused of failing in its duty of care following the shocking incident. The child was standing on the back of a Wile E. Coyote character seat on a carousel ride instead of sitting on it, a heard. The boy's head then went into a hole in the ceiling of the ride.

This opening held the machines that operate the carousel poles to move up and down. The 12-year-old's head was terrifyingly then pinned between the opening and the machine itself - with Work Health Safety Queensland saying the kid suffered an "ear-to-ear de-scalping injury" and fractures.

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Witnesses at the time, in April 2022, said they heard a bang and saw a boy fall from the ride while his hair was pulled to one side, according to the . Theme park visitors added that they saw the child's scalp and blood covering his face.

The boy was rushed by services to Gold Coast University Hospital at around 1pm on that terrifying day. Despite this, the WHSQ withdrew it's case just three days into a judge-only trail into the shocking injury.

WHSQ barrister Clare O'Connor gave evidence in court and said an independent safety report was given to the theme park eight months before the boy was "scalped". Risks from the carousel were identified in the paperwork.

The shock report explained the risk was that a crushing injury could occur due to the opening in the ceiling and O'Connor claimed the theme park had considered installing plastic brushes to prevent this, but the measure was not put in place.

A barrister for Village Roadshow, Saul Holt, argued that the boy standing on the ride and his injuries were "not reasonably foreseeable". He said: "This 12-year-old boy was described by one witness as surfing the character when his head, either deliberately or inadvertently, entered the hole in the ceiling of the ride.

"The steps the prosecution say were absent … would not have prevented this from happening." The barrister said the Looney Tunes carousel was immediately shut after the horror incident and was re-opened months later after engineers carried out checks.

A theme park ride safety consultant, David Randall, also spoke in court and said the plastic brushes the report recommended were not a requirement and described them as a deterrent rather than a physical barrier.

O'Connor asked to withdraw the case on the third day of the trial, saying the prosecution had no further evidence to offer the court in the case.