Thursday, October 23
Two months ago I called for a public enquiry into the death in custody of the 22-year old Yamatji woman in the South Hedland police lock up.
Ms Dhu was arrested on August 2 for unpaid fines and transferred to the South Hedland watch-house where despite vomiting, worsening pain and two hospital visits she remained incarcerated for more than two days until she was finally taken to Hedland Health Campus for a third time, we now know not breathing and with no pulse.
I have constantly said the government should be doing everything in is power to figure out why this tragedy happened, and why similar tragedies continue to happen within the custodial system across our state.
It is now known that despite Acting Police Commissioner Lawrence Panaia saying that in most cases when an inmate was ill they should be transported to a hospital by ambulance the young woman was put in the back of a paddy wagon each time, even when on the last occasion she was not breathing and with no pulse.
We need to get to the bottom of this and I again call for the government to initiate a full enquiry, we need the whole process to be open and quickly investigated.
· Why was she sent back from the hospital to the lock up on two occasions, when the coroner’s report shows she had serious medical conditions?
· Why was the family not advised of her condition by the police, they may have been able to intercede and save the young woman?
· Why the police used a paddy wagon for transporting this critically ill young woman?
· Why had the young woman condition been allowed to deteriorate to the stage of unconsciousness before final presentation to the hospital?
“Whatever happened to duty of care? Primarily both of these services exist in the interest of public safety so clearly there is a very serious flaw in the system.”
Mr Chapple said a public inquiry was only the first step in resolving a long-standing, and deepening, mistrust between Aboriginal communities and state services.
“Now, more than ever, we need to make sure that this sort of thing never happens again,” he said.
“We need to take another serious look at those recommendations that have come out of other incidents such as this, especially the death of John Pat in 1983 in Roebourne and more recently the tragic death of Mr Ward in the back of a prison van.
“The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody finalised on the 15 April 1991 made 339 recommendations for improvement in custodial processes most of which have not been implemented.
“Incarcerating Aboriginal people, and indeed anyone, for such minor offences as an unpaid fine solves absolutely nothing, and generally costs more than the fine itself is worth; it should not be an option.”
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
