Mum Electrocuted with Faulty USB Charger

A mobile phone store in Sydney has been fined after it sold a faulty USB phone charger to a young mother who died after being electrocuted.

Huadi Bi and her company Hua Yang Australia faced two charges each for selling an allegedly faulty phone charger and adapter that killed NSW mum Sheryl Anne Aldeguer.

Ms Aldeguer purchased a $5 phone charger from the store in Campsie that malfunctioned and sent a high-voltage electrical pulse into her earphones.

She was found dead by friends in her North Gosford home in April 2014.

Now, the Supreme Court fined the company $6000 in a civil action brought by NSW Fair Trading, despite the maximum penalty being $550,000, while Ms Bi received $18,000 in fines from a maximum of $55,000 and the company was ordered to repay $25,000 in court fees.

“We’re a little bit disappointed with the financial penalty imposed, given what the maximum could have been,” Fair Trade Commissioner Rod Stowe said.

The court was told that ‘the offending of the defendants was serious.’ “It was aggravated by the fact it was committed for financial gain and without regard for public safety,” Justice Geoffrey Bellow said in court.

Since Ms Aldeguer’s death, thousands of dodgy phone chargers have been confiscated.

“NSW Fair Trading on a regular basis does sweeps of the market place and we particularly target those areas we’ve found these non-approved articles in the past,” Mr Stowe said.

The coroner is still investigating Ms Aldeguer’s death, with possible criminal charges.

Source: 9news.com.au