Ray Jackson
On St. Valentines Day, February 14, the Young Man from Kamilaroi — the 17-year-old son of Gail Hickey — was impaled on a metal fence in Waterloo. He died the next morning of his horrific injuries. The following day the so-called "riots" began in Redfern.
Immediately NSW Premier Bob Carr and NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney stated that the Redfern police were not chasing the Young Man, and thus weren't involved in the tragedy. Carr announced three inquiries into whether there had been a chase: an internal police investigation; an overview of it by the Ombudsman's office; and a coronial inquest into the cause of the death. Further, the accident would be dealt with as a death-in-custody, even though Carr believed the police hadn't been involved.
Later, it was announced that there would be a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the "riot", the police resources to deal with it and, as a hard-fought-for addition, an overview of police-community relations at the Redfern Block and adjoining areas. Predictably, relations between the police, the Hickey family and the Aboriginal community and their supporters has been somewhat strained.
The inquest began in the Coroner's Court on July 5. For eight-and-a-half days, there was standing room only with a large contingent of Redfern police, about 20 family members, a dozen media inside and a pack outside, and supporters from both sides packing it out every day.
Coroner John Abernathy wanted the inquest's findings and recommendations finalised by July 16. He said the court owed the Hickey family that much. The bar table was lined with solicitors, junior counsel and senior counsel. Appearing also, on an ad hoc basis, was counsel for the corporate media. The scene was set for a veritable word-fest! Of course, it was also hoped that justice would be done.
Liz Fullerton, counsel assisting the Coroner, supported by two members of the Crown Solicitor's Office, began the submissions. Normally the counsel assisting is a member of the NSW Police Service as it is considered, falsely I believe, that only the police have expertise in matters of investigation and presentation.
The first witness, Detective Constable Darryl Pace, is an Aboriginal officer and the cause of much angst among the youth of Redfern and Waterloo. Pace said he arrested an Aborigine who resembled the bag snatcher the police were looking for on the day of the death. The arrestee was shown a video of the bag snatcher and asked the identity. Pace said that the arrestee named someone, but the latter vehemently denies this, saying that another officer identified the thief. The police showed that Pace was not involved in the pursuit of the Young Man and he was allowed to leave.
Senior Constable Lee Baily, the Redfern Police Intelligence Response Team Supervisor, said that three days prior to the tragic events, the Young Man's photo and police profile were placed on a notice board of high-risk offenders. It's a high probability that most of the Redfern police were made aware that the Young Man was in the area.
Detective Senior Constable Michael Kyneur, in charge of collating the police brief, was questioned about omissions from the statements of constables Alan Rimmel, Ruth Rocha, Maree Reynolds and Michael Hollingsworth during the 15 to 20 minutes prior to the accident. Kyneur argued that while they could have included more detail, they had not breached police protocols.
Rimmel agreed he and Rocha had seen the Young Man on his bike but, as he was not the bag snatcher, he was of no interest to them. He had difficulty remembering important details. As for his reason for being in Phillip Street and finding the Young Man on the fence? He described it as being happenstance of a fortuitous nature.
Rimmel's account placed both police wagons in Renwick Street: Redfern 16 coming in and his, Redfern 17, driving out. He said he did not recognise the Young Man on the fence as the same person on the bike they had seen moments before. But this was proven wrong by his own police alert of the accident.
Constable Reynolds's powers of recall were the worst, a fact Fullerton noted could be construed as evasion. Newly promoted Senior Constable Hollingsworth's two barristers argued he could not take the stand as he may incriminate himself, something that would lead to possible (but highly improbable) police disciplinary action. Hollingsworth was therefore excused from taking the stand, with the Coroner stating that no negative inference should be made about this.
On July 12, the ambulance officer attending the accident stated that the police were trying to keep the Young Man alive. He also said that there was no neck wound, despite all the other reports, including the autopsy report, saying the opposite.
When questioned on July 13, Kyneur agreed that the constables had changed their statements. He also said that all the pertinent questions had been asked and answered and that the inconsistencies did not invalidate the officers' statements.
A witness identified as Danny Townsend said he heard the bike hit the fence, saw the Young Man on the fence, ran up, comforted him and attempted to ring for an ambulance. Two minutes later, Rimmel and Rocha arrived, he said. During his time in the witness box, Townsend kept repeating that he was frightened. No-one asked him why.
Thomas Connor, who had been sitting in the backyard of the Salvation Army Community Centre, said the vehicle he had gestured to turn around was an unmarked police car. Rimmel and Rocha were in a police wagon. No one challenged this.
Gail Hickey's cousin, Roy Hickey, was hammered by the police lawyers for supposedly making errors in his statements.
Inspector Robert Emery of Redfern Local Area Command dismissed the allegations of a police chase as making no sense given that the Young Man was of no interest to the police and the pathway was fenced off at the end. He said the four officers had been badly traumatised by the accident.
When the legal teams began their submissions, Fullerton argued that Hollingsworth did not chase the Young Man, but that he could have been following him. She criticised the police constables for their actions after February 14 and said that all four, particularly Reynolds and Hollingsworth, had raised questions about the integrity of the Redfern police.
John Stratton, senior counsel for the family, said that the many statement changes cast doubt on the credibility of the four constables. Stratton said that the Young Man had the accident before the police arrived, and that the Aboriginal liaison officer should have been present. Further, he said that liaison officers should not be left to deal with the grieving family alone. The police legal team repeated calls for the police to be recognised as heroes.
The coroner announced that he would need more time to decide on his findings, apologising to the family but arguing that rushed justice is no justice. His findings will be delivered on August 27.
There are too many questions unasked, and thus unanswered. Witnesses state that a police rescue van arrived at the site within minutes but was sent away. Why? The ambulance arrived some 10 to 15 minutes later. The police rescue teams are better qualified than normal ambulance personnel. Why was this not investigated?
The sometimes strange answers given by non-police witnesses were not picked up by counsel assisting the coroner nor by the family team.
The autopsy report was not scrutinised, yet there are questions and answers arising from it as to the injuries that occurred and the force required to cause those injuries. To discuss the events at the death scene and closely examine the autopsy report is distressing to the families. But so too are those police who are not completely honest, or the submissions of the police counsel that the police should be treated as heroes! The families want the full truth and to reach that they will accept distress.
There was no forensic argument against the police report of the damage to the bicycle. Why? Gail Hickey and the Young Man's friend April Ceisman, among others, believed the wheels they saw at the police station were not the original ones from the Young Man's bike. A Channel 7 report showed the back wheel was buckled, yet when others and I saw it at Surry Hills Police Station, neither the front nor back wheels were buckled. Why?
What forensic examinations, if any, were made on the two police wagons involved? What about the reported events of violence and intimidation prior to the start of the inquest?
Rumors abound still that a police vehicle hit the bike wheel, thus causing the death of the Young Man. Did the chase start in Cope or Renwick Streets, or did it really begin up near Redfern Railway Station as some say? What about the young eyewitness who made a statement but was not called due to her age? What about the other two young teenagers who are too afraid to come forward?
These are just some of the questions people have asked me. I do not have answers for them. A restricted level inquest is not going to be able to answer those questions that the Hickey family and many others want answered. The police should not be investigating themselves. What we need in such a case of death-in-custody is a fully independent inquiry that includes Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.
[Ray Jackson is the president of the Indigenous Social Justice Association and a member of Socialist Alliance.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 28, 2004.
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