Mulrunji
Palm Island man ‘bashed to death by policeman’
Kenneth Nguyen – September 28, 2006
PALM Island man Mulrunji Doomadgee died after being bashed by a Queensland policeman, according to a damning coronial finding issued yesterday.
The coroner found that police left the Aboriginal man to die after the bashing, despite cries for help, and later made no attempt to resuscitate him.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said yesterday that the coroner’s report had been forwarded to the state’s Director of Public Prosecutions with a view to criminal charges being laid, a move welcomed by the dead man’s cousin, Alec Doomadgee.
“If there’s anyone with any common sense they will look at this report and know something very suspect has gone down and someone should be charged,” Mr Doomadgee said.
Mulrunji Doomadgee’s death in a Palm Island cell in November, 2004 sparked riots that culminated in the razing of the island’s police station.
In her report yesterday, acting state coroner Christine Clements said that Mr Doomadgee, 36, arrested for public drunkenness, had hit Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley first.
“Senior Sergeant Hurley lost his temper … (and) hit Mulrunji whilst he was on the floor a number of times,” Ms Clements said.
“After this occurred, I find there was no further resistance or indeed any speech or response from Mulrunji. I conclude that these actions of Senior Sergeant Hurley caused the fatal injuries.”
Mr Doomadgee suffered four broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and a liver almost split in half.
Police made “no attempt whatsoever” to check Mr Doomadgee’s condition after the bashing, the coroner said.
Video footage shown to the coroner showed Mr Doomadgee writhing in pain as he lay dying on the cell floor, crying out for help.
“It was not until (fellow policeman) Sergeant Leafe suspected that Mulrunji might in fact be dead that any close scrutiny was paid,” the coroner said.
“No attempt at resuscitation was made by any police officer, even when there was a degree of uncertainty about whether Mulrunji had died.”
In her 40-page report, the coroner said the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody had been ignored.
Ms Clements said that Mr Doomadgee should never have been arrested given that arrest should be a last resort in the case of minor offences.
Among 40 recommendations, Ms Clements recommended that the Queensland Government urgently consider establishing a centre on Palm Island for drunks as an alternative to police custody.
She savaged the involvement of officers from Townsville and Palm Island in the investigation of Mr Doomadgee’s death as inappropriate, saying it “undermined the integrity of the investigation”.
“In all deaths in custody, officers investigating the death should be selected from a region other than that in which the death occurred,” she said.
“It was completely unacceptable for investigators to eat dinner at Hurley’s house while the investigation was being conducted.”
Mr Beattie said the Government had set up a task force to review the coroner’s recommendations and cabinet would consider the results of the review before the year’s end.
“I promised to the people of Palm Island that due process would follow appropriately, and these things will be looked at fully and properly,” Mr Beattie said.
Palm Island Mayor Erykah Kyle said that Senior Sergeant Hurley, now based on the Gold Coast, should have stepped down immediately after Mr Doomadgee’s death.
Mr Doomadgee was survived by his partner of 10 years, Tracey Twaddle, and his sisters, Jane, Elizabeth and Valmai.
With AAP
No justice a decade on from horrific Palm Island death in custody
It’s been 10 years years since the violent death in custody of Palm Island man Cameron Doomadgee – an event that sparked a mass riot and still leaves his family, and an entire community, struggling for answers.
– 19 November 2014
On November 19th 2004, Cameron Doomadgee, also known as Mulrunji, was arrested for allegedly causing a public nuisance.
He was taken into custody by Senior Sargeant Chris Hurley, accompanied by the Indigenous Liaison Police officer Lloyd Bengaroo.
Within an hour Mr Doomadgee was found dead in a cell at Palm Island police station. He suffered a cut above his right eye, four broken ribs, his portal vein was ruptured and his liver almost split in two against his spine.
“I rang the Police Station. Chris Hurley answered and he asked me who I was,” explained Mr Doomadgee’s sister, Valmae Doomadgee-Aplin. “After I gave him all my information he handed me on to somebody else. He just said “we can’t talk about it” and just hung up.”
A week later an autopsy report revealed the gravity of Mr Doomadgee’s injuries, and sparked a riot that saw its police station and barracks burnt to the ground.
A state of emergency followed where 80 police officers, including a riot squad, were deployed.
“He was like our backbone of the family,” said another of Mr Doomadgee’s sisters, Jane. “We all help each other today. We’re here to be strong for each other.
“We will never ever forget our baby brother because they took him away from us.”
Then and now
Palm Island resident Lex Wotton was there when Mr Doomadgee was picked up by police, and would go on to serve two years of a seven year prison sentence for inciting the riots.
“I’d still do what I did then,” he said. “It was about making a statement. I don’t regret it all.
“(It cost me) not only my liberty by also the suffering of my family. I know they went through a lot.”
Sergeant Hurley became the first police officer in recent Australian history to stand trial over a death in custody.
He was acquitted of manslaughter, prompting further outrage.
“The judicial system in this country is not controlled by black Australia. It’s controlled by white Australia,” said Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor Alf Lacey. “The pendulum is also going to be on their side and not our side.”
The final coroner’s report, along with the state anti-corruption agency report found police colluded to protect Sergeant Hurley and their investigation tainted the evidence.
What’s changed?
Deaths in custody investigations and police disciplinary procedures were overhauled, but the recommendation that six officers be charged never happened.
After $7 million spent prosecuting the case, some police received compensation while two Palm Islanders were jailed for rioting.
“I think things have changed for the better,” explains Greg Shadbolt from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service. “There’s a lot of respect for the commissioner and deputy commissioner. But Palm Island specifically, things haven’t improved.
“Justice reinvestment is the key. Governments need to address underlying cases, that will reduce offending rates making for safer communities. It’s far cheaper to address offending behaviour than locking people up.”
In a statement, the Crime and Corruption Commission said it’s “working with the QPS and the State Coroner to finalise a new Memorandum of Understanding, which will further define the roles of each agency following a death related to a police operation to ensure there is appropriate transparency and independent oversight of these investigations.”
Lex Wotton is now leading a class action against Queensland on behalf of Palm Islanders. Though Aboriginal rights advocate Professor Gracelyn Smallwood said it’s not about the money.
“It’s about justice and letting the world know that the unresolved trauma is still there on Palm Island,” she said.
Source: World News Australia
Mulrunji, ten years ago, the 147th Black death since the Royal Commission
Gerry Georgatos – October 21st, 2014
Ten years ago, Mulrunji was the 147th Aboriginal death in custody since the end of the Royal Commission in 1992. Despite that they will not be forgotten, Mulrunji and so many others will never return – but what has changed for the better? Recently, a 22-year-old Yamatji woman became the 340th death in custody. 100 deaths in custody over a ten year period to 1992, then even more deaths, nearly 150 over 12 years to Mulrunji’s death, and nearly 200 deaths in the ten years since. Why are deaths in custody rising?
On November 19, 2004, Mulrunji was walking his dog on Palm Island, and he was singing ‘Who let the dogs out?’ Seargent Craig Hurley who was driving by slowed down and took exception, instead of moving on.
Only a little while later, Mulrunji would lay dead on a police cell floor. The autopsy by Coroner Michael Barnes reported Mulrunji suffered four broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and ruptured liver. He died from “an intra-abdominal haemorrhage caused by a ruptured liver and portal vein.” He died because he was bashed.
Earlier in the morning, Mulrunji visited his new baby niece. He had a little to drink. He had been carrying a bucket with a mud crab which he intended to sell. The walk from his sister’s house was fateful. He was singing “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
Officer Hurley was with Police Liaison Officer Bengaroo. Mulrunji sang out to Officer Bengaroo, “Why do you help lock up your own people?” Mulrunji then walked away. It could have ended there but Officer Hurley drove up to Mulrunji and arrested him for ‘creating a public nuisance’. Mulrunji was bundled into the back of the police vehicle.
Everyone knows what really happened in the police cell. The 36-year-old Officer Hurley would be responsible for causing the death of the 36-year-old Mulrunji. Less than an hour after Mulrunji was ‘thrown’ into the police cell he would be pronounced dead. But Mulrunji was more than likely dead less than fifteen minutes after being bundled into the cell and then beaten.
Despite the fact that other officers were present at the watch-house, “none of them heard or saw anything.” Officer Hurley said he noticed Mulrunji “motionless” and “cold” when touching him. He applied an “arousal technique” by “kicking him twice” but Mulrunji remained motionless. An ambulance took fifteen minutes to arrive and in that time not once did any of the police officers attempt to resuscitate Mulrunji.
One week later, Coroner Barnes’ autopsy report was handed to the family. A riot followed – more than 400 people raced to the Palm Island Police Station, half of them were children. The local courthouse, police station, Hurley’s home and the police barracks were burned. More than 80 police officers from the mainland would be sent to the island, dressed in balaclavas and riot gear to back up the island’s eighteen police officers.
Palm Islander Lex Wotton copped jail time but Officer Hurley was protected effectively by the Queensland Government and the Queensland Police Union. This business of police investigating police ensured Senior Sergeant Hurley was not charged and instead he received various confidential payouts from the Queensland State Government. After three months of paid leave, Sergeant Hurley was appointed as a duty officer on the Gold Coast. However in September 2006, Coroner Christine Clements found that Mulrunji died of the punches inflicted by Sergeant Hurley.
The cover-ups including police officers telling investigating pathologist Guy Lampe that Mulrunji had swallowed bleach.
Coroner Clements stated the police failed to rightly investigate the death of Mulrunji. Importantly, Coroner Clements stated that Mulrunji should never have been arrested – just as Mr Ward should never have been, just as Mr Briscoe should never have been, and just as the 340th death in custody since the Royal Commission, Ms Dhu should never have been.
Partrick Bramwell had been in the Palm Island cell at the time Mulrunji died. Soon after, Mr Bramwell stated that Mulrunji cried out, “Help, help, please help me…” Mr Bramwell stated that Sergeant Hurley told Mulrunji, “Do you want more?”
A Queensland Crimes and Misconduct Commission inquiry into Mulrunji’s death found that no charges could be laid against the police officer. But the public outcries did not desist. The media sustained coverage. NSW former Justice, Sir Laurence Street was appointed to review the police watch-house death of Mulrunji.
On January 4, 2007 the review commenced, however the key witness, Mr Bramwell was found hanged on Palm Island, January 16. A family member alleged that Mr Bramwell had said to relatives he had been threatened by a police officer.
On January 26, the Street review overturned the Department of the Public Prosecutor decision to not lay charges. The review recommended that Sergeant Hurley should be charged with manslaughter. But like the four police officers and the police aide who were acquitted by an all-White jury of killing 16-year-old Yindjibarndi John Pat in 1983 so too was Sergeant Hurley acquitted in 2007 by an all-white jury in Townsville.
So once again, it was okay for a copper to step out of line, go rogue and thrash punches into a Black person. It is not enough that Mulrunji was arrested for next-to-nothing but we have to accept that the crimeless Mulrunji for some reason deserved the beating he got. First People endure the highest arrest and imprisonment rates in the nation, mostly for minor offences. Aboriginal Legal Services are stretched to the hilt in having to represent far too many for next-to-nothing offences.
So yep, Sergeant Hurley was acquitted. On October 24, 2008, Palm Island two-time councillor Lex Wotton received 7 years in response for his limited involvement in the Palm Island riots. But he did not kill anyone. He did not lay a hand on anyone. On July 19, 2010, Mr Wotton was released. But in the days leading up to his paroling, the Queensland Government snapped in an unprecedented gag order on Mr Wotton – that he could not publicly speak about the death of Mulrunji and the events of the Palm Island riot. Earlier this year, the gag order lapsed and Mr Wotton in his gentle manner spoke out. He gave his first extensive interview to The Stringer.
They say from little things big things grow – good and bad. Arrested for singing a song and then a litany of broken lives. Mulrunji’s 12-year-old son, Eric, led his father’s funeral cortege. At 18, Eric was found hanged in Palm Island bush – July 19, 2010. Some say, that earlier in the day Eric had been taken for a drive by police.
On May 14, 2010, another coronial inquiry found that police colluded to protect Sergeant Hurley and shortly after a Queensland Crimes and Misconduct Commission report leaked to the media stated that up to seven police officers should be charged. None have ever been charged. The Commission’s chairperson Martin Moynihan clashed with the Anna Bligh Government in that there is a “culture of self-protection” for police. Premier Bligh dismissed calls for a Royal Commission and instead accepted the April 2011 410 report by Queensland Deputy Commissioner Kathy Rynders – that no police needed to be disciplined over the death of Mulrunji. She recommended “managerial guidance” for one of the officers. So it’s not a crime to cover-up, to lie, to bash someone if you’re a police officer.
On the trends since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody we are heading for the 600th Black death in custody in 2025. This is what we must avert, and it can be done. We must not give up striving for what is right.
Long way to go on deaths in custody: experts
Twenty years after a royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in police custody released its findings, experts say more work is needed to address the issue.
By SBS – 23 August 2013
The Royal Commission releases its final report 20 years ago this Friday.
It investigated 99 official indigenous deaths in custody and offered 339 recommendations, including ridding prisons of potential points for hanging and new funding processes for Aboriginal organisations. The heralded report focused on procedures for people in custody, liaison with Aboriginal groups, and police education.
To Mick Gooda, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, the report’s release was a moment of great hope for Australia’s Aboriginal people. But while he believes the royal commission itself was perfect, the implementation of its recommendations has been the problem.
“We ended up with recommendations that went to almost every facet of life that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience here.
“I thought we approached it as if it was a program of work to be done, instead of embedding all those practices in the way we do business every day of the week, every day of the year. “And I think we missed an opportunity to do that with that report,” he said.
The death of John Pat
The Commission examined all deaths in custody in Australia which occurred between January 1980 and May 1989, and the actions taken in respect of each death.
It was sparked, says Mr Gooda, by the death of John Pat, a 16-year-old Aboriginal man, in the outback Western Australian town of Roebourne. Mr Pat died after a fight broke out on September 28th, 1983 between Aboriginal men and off-duty police officers outside a bottle shop.
Witnesses said one officer struck John Pat in the face, causing him to fall backwards, hitting his head on the road. A police officer allegedly went over and kicked him in the head, before he was dragged to a waiting police van, kicked in the face and thrown in.
Witnesses said at the police station Mr Pat and three other men were systematically dragged out, dropped to the road, picked up, punched to the ground and kicked again. John Pat died an hour later. His skull was fractured, and he suffered haemorrhaging, swelling, bruising and tearing of the brain, as well as bruises to the head, broken ribs and a torn aorta.
Mr Gooda says that John Pat’s death stays in many indigenous people’s consciousness.
“It was something that I remember, being a lot younger than I am today, watching film of that funeral – there were news reports – and just thinking, ‘How can this be happening? And how did this young fella end up in the situation that he ended up with?’
“Later, as I got older, I actually went over to Roebourne and visited his grave and met his family, and it was a fairly important part of our consciousness in Queensland at the time to relate to this young fella and what happened to him,” he said.
Releasing its final report on April 15, 1991, the Royal Commission found Aboriginal people did not die at a higher rate in custody than non-Aboriginal people – the premise of the inquiry.
Instead, it found the root of the problem was that Aboriginal people were taken into custody at an overwhelmingly higher rate.
Twenty years on
Today the Australian Institute of Criminology continues to track deaths in custody and many of the specific aspects raised in the Royal Commission. Aboriginal deaths in police custody, which represented two-thirds of the case studies back then, have dropped dramatically in number. But while Aboriginal adults account for just two per cent of Australia’s adult population, they make up one in four of Australia’s prisoners.
Dr David Biles, who was the Royal Commission’s head of research, says this means that when the entire system of police, the courts and Corrective Services is considered, the situation is no better.
“When we started the work in the Royal Commission, it was something like 12 to 15 per cent of people in prison at any one time in Australia were Aboriginal. Now, that figure is over 25 per cent, just over 25 per cent. That’s a significant change. The more people there, then, clearly, the more are going to die,” he said.
Gerry Georgatos, pursuing doctoral research in Australian deaths in custody at James Cook University, calculates an Aboriginal Australian is 15 times more likely to be imprisoned than a non-Aboriginal – up 50 per cent from 20 years ago.
His research so far indicates that from 1982 to 2008 there were 2056 Australian deaths in custody. He says 379 of those who died were Aboriginal – more than 18 per cent. Mr Georgatos is pushing for a new Senate inquiry into why so few police and prison officers have been held accountable.
“The big question I’m putting is, if we’ve had two and a half thousand deaths in custody since 1980, and we’ve barely had them scrub up, uh, before the criminal-justice system, we’ve barely had them before the courts – it’s only a handful who’ve gone before the courts – there is something wrong there. And we need to find the reasons for this,” he said.
State by state
Mr Georgatos wants an inquiry to look at why Western Australia, with about three per cent of its population Aboriginal, has more Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal deaths in custody.
He says the Northern Territory, with 35 per cent of its population Aboriginal, is the only other state or territory in that category.
Mick Gooda, points to both Western Australia and the Northern Territory as concerns today. Victoria is arguably the state with the best record, he says.
Mr Gooda credits the former Brumby Government for low rates of Aboriginal prisoners and juveniles in detention. He contrasts them with the 2009 arrest of a 12-year-old Aboriginal boy in Western Australia for accepting a stolen chocolate Freddo Frog from a friend.
Mr Georgatos says any zero-tolerance approach taken today directly conflicts with the recommendations of the Royal Commission.
Mr Gooda is less hopeful as he once was about addressing Aboriginal deaths in custody.
“We’ve got more people in custody than we ever did have today, you know, so … it goes to a sense of frustration about … almost ‘What was all [the Royal Commission] about?’
“And you sort of hope all that work wasn’t done in vain, but it’s hard to avoid that conclusion,” he said.
Source: SBS