|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
 |
Australia: Fatal Police Brutality and the Insensitivity of State Authorities
Posted: November 4, 2008
Palm Island is a small community of about 2000 people off the east coast of Queensland Australia. In late 2004 it witnessed a serious riot in which the local police station was left in ashes. What caused the riots was the death of a local man within hours of being taken into police custody. The police had arrested a 36 years old Aborigine and Palm Island resident, Cameron Mulrunji Doomadgee, one day in November 2004 for allegedly causing a public nuisance. One hour later, he was dead in police custody. The coroner's report, as released to the family a few days later, put cause of death as "an intra-abdominal haemorrhage caused by a ruptured liver and portal vein." Local Aborigines did not believe the coroner's verdict, even when the Palm Island Council Chairwoman, Erykah Kyle, addressed them in a meeting a week after his death. They called Doomadgee's death "cold-blooded murder" by police. In the ensuing riots, the local police station and barracks as well as the courthouse were burned down. The Queensland State authorities dispatched a heavy re-enforcement of police from nearby mainland towns of Townsville and Cairns to restore order. Several local residents were arrested and charged with "rioting with destruction." The government of Queensland setup the Palm Island Select Committee in April 2005 to look into the causes of the riot and other problems in Palm Island. The resulting report was tabled four months later in August with 65 recommendations to tackle violence, overcrowding and improve on education and health standards, as well as dealing with issues of alcohol and drug abuse and unemployment. About two years after his death coroner, Christine Clements, found that death was caused by blows delivered to Doomadgee's body by the arresting officer, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley. Despite that finding by the coroner, the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Leanne Clare, on 14 December 2006, announced that no charges would be laid. But growing public pressure forced the government to appoint a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Sir Laurence Street, to review the DPP's decision. The Street report found that there was sufficient grounds to prosecute Chris Hurley for manslaughter and overturned the decision of the DPP. The trial of Chris Hurley, the arresting policeman took place in a Townsville court. In June 2007 the jury found the Senior Sergeant not guilty of manslaughter and assault charges for the death of Aborigine, Cameron Mulrunji Doomadgee. Thus, despite two damning reports from the coroner and a former chief justice, the Queensland authorities remain adamant in refusing to allow the police to be held responsible for the death of Doomadgee. The same kind of reticense which government and court authorities demonstrate when it comes to assigning blame for the death of the Aboriginal man does not seem to apply when they are looking for whom to blame for the riots. Several Aborigines were arrested and charged for rioting and causing destruction. One man, Lex Wotton of Palm Island was convicted for the rioting this past October and will be sentenced on Friday November 7, 2008 in a Townsville court. Commenting on state radio on Tuesday October 28, 2008 Aboriginal community worker Sam Watson said that the police sought to influence the sentencing outcome for Lex Wotton by scheduling the bravery medal award to 22 officers involved in the riots for which Wotton had been convicted only four days ahead of his sentencing date. He described this move by Queensland state Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson as "cheap, brutal and thuggish," designed to "place pressure on the trial judge to hand down a very severe penalty." The Mayor of Palm Island Mr. Alf Lacey called the timing of the police awards "offensive" and that it marginalizes the police in terms of "Aboriginal-police relationship." He went on to say that the relationship had been "knocked a decade backward" by the timing of the awards. Mayor Lacey has called on Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, to also honour those residents who helped quell violence during the 2004 Doomadgee custody-death riots and who have been working hard over the last four years to maintain calm and peace in the community. Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said he intended to recommend awards for Palm Islanders who helped put out fires and calm tensions, but Mr. Lacey has said he is not interested in having the police commission do the presentation. A History of Injustice and ViolenceThe manner of Mulrunji Doomadgee's death is not something new on Palm Island. Palm Island is original to the Manbarra people who lived there prior to the coming of the White man in 1770. During the late 19th century and 1920s the government used the island as a penal settlement for Aborigines from all over Australia under the Aboriginal Protection Acts. People who were sent there were those considered "disruptive." This included women who were pregnant for white men and the mixed bloom children of such unions. The lives of those who lived in the settlements were strictly restricted and tightly controlled. Aboriginal people could not leave Palm Island without permission. Government kept tight control of Aboriginal wages and how the individual spent it. In most cases when the Aboriginal people were paid it was with food rather than money. Such treatment for Aboriginal workers continued into the 1980s. In 1986 a group of seven Palm Islanders sued before the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for under payment by government. The Commission ordered the Queensland government to pay compensation. In 1999 the Government apologized and paid $7,000 compensation to each Aboriginal Palm Island employee between 1975 and 1986. Such severe restrictions bred violence and excessive behavior. Palm Island is no stranger to crime and violence. A 1985 study found the homicide rate in the community to be 15 times higher than the Queensland rate and 10 times more than the rate in other Aboriginal communities. For serious assaults the same study rated Palm Island 20 times higher than all Queensland and 4 times higher than other Aboriginal communities. Life expectancy is only 40 years in Palm Island; the youth suicide rate per capita is highest in the world. There were 40 suicides in 5 years in a population of just under 2000 people. In 1999 the Guinness Book of Records named Palm Island the most violent place on earth outside a combat zone. Given its history, it is therefore not surprising that an event like death-under-custody occurs in Palm Island. Government denials of culpability of its agents are not surprising either. They are in conformity with a history of authoritarianism and impunity and a heaping of blame on the victims. The rioting that took place indicates that the spirit of the people of Palm Island has not been completely broken by government oppression. Aboriginal activist Sam Watson has delivered a petition to Parliament seeking for a Royal Commission to look into Doomadgee's death. "We believe that a high level Royal Commission is the only true forum in which we can expose all the issues," he said. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||
|
