Rosemary Gamble, the operator of company Taz-Zorb, was found not guilty in 2025 of failing to comply with a workplace health and safety duty.
Ms Gamble and Taz-Zorb staff set up inflatable equipment on the oval of Hillcrest Primary School at Devonport in northwest Tasmania on December 16, 2021.
Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt were killed when an unforeseen "dust devil" wind gust lifted the castle into the air.
Ms Gamble's bid to have the state of Tasmania cover her legal costs was dismissed by magistrate Robert Webster in a recently published judgment.
The cost of her defence after charges in 2023 and a two-week hearing wasn't detailed in Mr Webster's decision, but she previously said it ran into the millions of dollars.
She argued defending the charge caused severe and lasting harm to her mental health, financial security, reputation and family.
Her life was "turned upside down" and her business collapsed overnight, Ms Gamble said.
After an initial police interview and seizure of her car, she was left without a way to get home, without mental health support and was extremely distressed about being recognised by the public, she said.
Ms Gamble was "crying and terrified" when media knocked on her door the next day and was subjected to distressing and intimidating comments by victims' families during court appearances.
She reported suffering insomnia, nightmares, frequent crying, heightened anxiety, fear of being recognised in public and social withdrawal.
Ms Gamble was unemployed and on Centrelink benefits with no significant assets or savings while living in a public housing property, the court heard.
Her insurer had agreed to cover her defence but this hadn't been locked in, she added.
Tasmania's Director of Public Prosecutions argued costs shouldn't be paid by the state as the main factor in Ms Gamble's personal circumstances was the tragedy and not the criminal proceedings.
The magistrate found Ms Gamble had not established her personal circumstances were attributable to the criminal proceedings alone.
"(She) witnessed a grave tragedy ... and it is not at all surprising that somebody in her position would suffer significant psychological, emotional and financial consequences," Mr Webster said.
"Her business would have likely struggled after this incident even if she had retained all her equipment."
Media attention, social media vitriol and public notoriety primarily arose as a result of Ms Gamble's involvement in the tragedy, not the criminal proceedings, he added.
Ms Gamble is expected to give evidence at an inquest, which is yet to set hearing dates.
Preparations for the inquest were put on hold because of the criminal proceedings.
In his 2025 not guilty ruling, Mr Webster said Ms Gamble could have done more to anchor the castle, but even if she did it would have made no difference to the outcome because the wind was impossible to predict.
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