Auntie Gail Hickey, her family and supporters marched through Redfern to demand justice for TJ Hickey, 19 years after the 17-year-old Kamilaroi youth died while being pursued by NSW Police. Peter Boyle reports.
TJ Hickey
Gail Hickey led the march through Redfern to remember the death of her son, TJ Hickey, 18 years ago. Isaac Nellist reports.
February 14 marks 18 years since young Kamilaroi man TJ Hickey died after being chased by police. No one has been charged; his family is yet to receive any justice, writes Isaac Nellist.
Gail Hickey, the mother of TJ Hickey, led a march through the streets of Redfern to mark 17 years since her son’s death on February 14, reports Isaac Nellist.
No one ever wishes to witness a 17-year-old boy impaled on an iron fence. “A freak accident,” the coroner declared, exempting NSW police who denied chasing TJ Hickey in 2004.
TJ Hickey’s mother Gail Hickey led a march through Redfern to NSW parliament on the 15th anniversary of TJ’s death on February 14.
On February 14, the family and supporters of TJ Hickey will meet at the park they have named after the young Kamilaroi man, 15 years after he was murdered by the NSW police.
In recent years there has been an important revival of Invasion Day marches on January 26. Together with the issues of Aboriginal sovereignty and ongoing injustices against First Nations people, Raul Bassi writes that a focus of this year’s protest will be Black deaths in custody.
Fourteen long years after young TJ Hickey was chased to his death in Waterloo, his family and the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) organised a moving rally in Waterloo, along the fence line where the young Kamilaroi man was killed.
For almost 14 years we have repeated the same sad story of the death of TJ Hickey.
The young Kamilaroi man was happily riding his bike in Waterloo on February 14, 2004, totally unaware of the tragedy that was to come. A police car driven by then Constable Hollingsworth, started to pursue him. On the corner of Phillip and George streets, a police vehicle hit the bike and TJ was catapulted and impaled on the spiked iron fence.
About 30 people attended a meeting on February 23 on the theme: "How can we stop deaths in custody and hold the police to account?". The meeting was organised by the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA).
ISJA member Cheryl Kaulfuss spoke about the death of Aboriginal teenager TJ Hickey as a result of police action in Redfern in 2004. Nationwide protests on the anniversary of his death led to the formation of ISJA Melbourne.
The family of TJ Hickey is still being denied justice, 13 years since the 17-year-old died after being impaled on a fence in Waterloo during a police chase.
The refusal by successive NSW governments to bring the police officers responsible to court — and allow the family some closure — is testimony to the endemic racism First Nations people have to endure.
NSW police refuse to concede their officers were responsible for Thomas James Hickey’s death. They claim it was an accident.
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