Isabel Klanja with her young sons. Credit:Simon Schluter "People go to work with the expectation of getting home safely at the end of the day and, tragically, this incident has taken that away from this young man and his family." County Court Judge Jane Campton on Tuesday said it was "foreseeable" that the wall could have collapsed in the event of severe weather and cause serious injury or death. "The risk was not confined to the deceased ... anyone who came onto the site would have been exposed," she said. Judge Campton agreed that the risk could have been "easily eliminated" by simply bracing the wall to "prevent a tragedy like this".

Isabel Klanja has also launched civil action against Bilic Homes. Credit:Simon Schluter The $300,000 criminal penalty imposed on Bilic Homes is higher than the fine received by building giant Grocon over the infamous Swanston Street wall collapse, which killed two teenage siblings and a French woman three years ago. Also on a day of severe wind gusts, the 15-metre wall on the boundary of a large Grocon-owned construction site crashed onto the busy CBD footpath. Grocon and a signage subcontractor were each fined $250,000. Mr Klanja – a father of two young boys – had been on the Brighton East townhouse construction site as a contractor with a workmate on June 23, 2014, a day of a severe weather warning. The pair were working at the rear of the site below the partly built wall before it collapsed, crushing Mr Klanja to death. Despite efforts by his co-worker, Mr Klanja soon died in hospital.

The kids cry every night, saying, 'Mum, can you get Papa and bring him home?' Widow Isabel Klanja Widow Isabel Klanja told the court she remembered screaming, "Michael please wake, please come home... we need you". Ms Klanja said she battles every day with the pain of losing her husband who was her high-school sweetheart. "The kids cry every night, saying, 'Mum, can you get Papa and bring him home?' ... I don't know how to explain he is not here," she told Fairfax Media last year. "I never expected this." Bilic Homes had previously pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of failing to maintain a safe workplace.

The company's defence counsel said Bilic Homes' director, Stan Bilic, was a man of integrity who had been left "totally distressed and in tears" by the loss of "not only a contractor but also a friend". The court heard that the company had no prior convictions, had been a member of the Master Builders Association since 2011 and was a good corporate citizen. Judge Campton accepted Mr Bilic's genuine remorse, but said the risk of death was foreseeable and should have been prevented. WorkSafe said the fatal incident may never have happened if the employer had followed proper standards and ensured the wall was braced. "Instead it was left unsupported and unstable, endangering the safety of workers at the site and potentially members of the public," Ms Williams said.

The Klanja family has separately launched a civil case seeking damages from Bilic Homes in the Supreme Court. Ms Klanja said the family had been plunged into financial hardship since her husband's death, and she had struggled to provide for the family.