Julieka Dhu
Ms Dhu was dragged and carted to the pod of a police vehicle. Ms Dhu was dumped into the pod like some would say “a dead kangaroo” and shut inside, alone. No police officer demonstrated the common sense or compassion to ride with her in the back of the van where likely her last breaths were taken. There is no doubt that the police contributed to the death of Ms Dhu, be it by a combination of neglect, stupidity and racism. I was at the first day of the coronial inquest this morning before catching a flight to Canberra.
Coroner Ros Fogliani heard from counsel assisting the coroner, Ilona O’Brien, that Ms Dhu died of a staphylococcus infection, pneumonia and septicaemia.
An hour long compilation of CCTV footage described the deplorable last 40 hours of Ms Dhu’s life. Yes, police and the health clinic have a lot to answer for – in terms of negligence and racist assumptions.
I spoke with her grieving Mother, Della Roe, and her Uncle, Shaun Harris. Ms Roe said, “How could they treat my child like that, how could they drag her and throw her around? It broke my heart to see this. The police should have called the ambulance when she first complained of pain. Why wouldn’t they do this?”
“I can’t believe Julieka is no longer with us. Every day the pain is the same. To see her suffer like this hurts all over again.”
“I can’t sleep and when finally I do I wake each morning without Julieka.”
Ms Dhu’s Father, Robert Dhu, and her Grandmother, Carol Roe left the coroner’s courtroom prior to the release of the footage, not being able to withstand seeing the torment of their loved one’s last hours.
Mr Harris said, “It was disgusting, and everyone has a lot to answer for.”
“What will come of all this, what will they change? We know what changes are needed, we know the the racism, we know we need cultural training, real training of police and others to clean them up and make them understand. We have fought from the beginning for the truth.”
Ms Dhu was hurting from comments by the police officers captured on CCTV, after dumping the possibly lifeless Ms Dhu in the rear pod of the police vehicle. A police officer is heard “Oh, shut up”. Some of the gallery thought he was telling a ‘moaning’ Ms Dhu to ‘shut up’ but her mother, Ms Roe, and others, believe the officer said this to another police officer who may have quipped taking Ms Dhu “to the morgue”. I believe Ms Dhu was unconscious by the time she was placed into the pod. However Ms Roe has asked the lawyers representing the family to ask the Court for clarification on the comment.
The CCTV footage, an hour long, showed Ms Dhu physically suffering and pleading her case to police. “I am hurting,” said Ms Dhu.
“I am in so much pain.”
“Oh God, someone please help me.”
Counsel O’Brien effectively damned the Hedland Health Service, describing medical staff reporting that Ms Dhu was a perpetrator of “behavioural issues”. The racist presumption of an Aboriginal woman in the company of police went straight to ‘disorderly’. To make it worse a police officer said to a nurse that he believed Ms Dhu “was faking”.
Throughout the CCTV footage it was clear that Ms Dhu was in rapid physical deterioration but police who had taken Ms Dhu twice to the Health campus till her third and final journey were reticent to believe her. They should have called for an ambulance on each occasion Ms Dhu complained of being terribly unwell, but they did not call for an ambulance. A female police officer is captured on CCTV footage telling Ms Dhu to relax her breathing and that this will relieve her chest pains. All of a sudden this police officer is a physician!
Ms Dhu’s cries for help were relentless. The neglect and stupidity by both the police and health mob led to Ms Dhu’s death.
Police do have a lot to respond to. The systemic underlying factors that were on the occasion of Ms Dhu’s death evident, visible right from August 4 last year to all who cared to notice were even more damning following the CCTV footage screened in the coroner’s court. Police officers had failed to respond to Ms Dhu’s pleas. At the end of it all, they went to check on her possibly lifeless body in the cell. They lifted her arm and it dropped. The police officers stepped outside the cell to discuss what next. Instead of calling an ambulance they went back inside the cell and dragged Ms Dhu to the cell floor. One officer dragged Ms Dhu by the arms along the floor out the cell door. Then they lifted her by the arms and legs and carted her through the police station, outside, and to the police vehicle. They lifted her into the rear pod of the police door and shut the door on her. None of them wise or compassionate enough to ride with Ms Dhu in the back, to keep her steady and safe from being tossed around. It was shameful, outrageous.
A young woman died because of unpaid fines. We should never damn the impoverished as such but in Western Australia, Australia’s backwater, we do.
And what of the Hedland Health Campus? Some of their health staff had presumed of Ms Dhu “behavioural issues” and discharged the young woman.
Counsel O’Brien said, “By the morning of August 4, 2014, Ms Dhu’s clinical state rapidly worsened, and although it was not appreciated by the police officers involved, some of whom believed that Ms Dhu was feigning her illness, she was in an advanced state of septic shock and only hours from death.”
In August last year, weeks after the tragic, outrageous death of Ms Dhu I flew to Canberra to meet with the Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion and argue the case to him for the roll-out of the Custody Notification Service in Western Australia (and in the rest of the nation), alongside to an end to jailing fine defaulters (the poor). Minister Scullion saw the merit, agreed and has been a standout in his support and lobbied, urging his Western Australian counterparts to do so. But Premier Colin Barnett who in October last year promised to give everything to reducing incarceration rates and deaths in custody has to date done next to nothing. The Custody Notification Service would have probably saved the life of Ms Dhu.
The coroner’s court today was full to the brim with lawyers – eleven representing affected parties plus four other lawyers as interested parties. The doctors, nurses and police officers are being represented by lawyers. But Ms Dhu had no-one to represent her interests when she was pleading, begging, crying for her life. A Custody Notification Service would have provided a humble advocate at her hour of need.
The police officers should just admit they screwed up and that they made assumptions about her health they had no right to, and delved into racist stereotypes no doubt. The Custody Notification Service will relieve them of the burden and impacts of judgments to which they have no expertise. The health personnel should admit they too made assumptions they never should have made, that they may have presumed of ‘behavioural issues’ with this young woman because she was a young Aboriginal woman escorted by police. Racist stereotypes. This State Government should also scrub up with apologies, compensation to the families and with immediate actions – the implementation of the Custody Notification Service, an end to jailing fine defaulters (the poor) and alternatives to low level offending. If the State Government fails to immediately implement the CNS then they should be called out for what they will be, racists. If the State Government fails to put to an end to the jailing of fine defaulters (the poor) then they should be called out for what they will be, bastards.
There are no words for the loss of this young woman, no words to comfort her mother, her father, her grandmother, her uncle, family members but for goodness sake there must now surely be a legacy of immediate and significant systemic changes.
– Declaration of impartiality conflict – Gerry Georgatos, a suicide prevention researcher and prison/custodial systems reform advocate, has lobbied the Federal Government for the Custody Notification Service and alternatives to the jailing of people for fine defaulting. He has also lobbied for other recommendations and outcomes on behalf of the family of Ms Dhu.
Previous articles by Gerry Georgatos
Family of Ms Dhu applaud Scullion
Family of Ms Dhu still waiting for answers
Family calls for justice for Ms Dhu
When will they implement the CNS?
There are no words for your loss
Western Australia urged to stop jailing fine defaulters
CNS helps both detainees and police
When is there going to be changes to the way our people are treated?
When is the Govt. services dealing with Aboriginal people actually going to treat Aboriginal people as they treat all Australians?
When is it that police officers are going to have more/regular induction of staff?
When are Govt. workers who get paid from tax payers dollars going to get D & A tested like all workers?
The treatment and handling of this case is a clear indication that these workers are not perfect so why should we, the public, think they don’t do no wrong!!!
It is a disgraceful, shameful way for a citizen of this country to be treated and this should be recorded by media as a reminder to all those people who think that the police and health staff are skilled workers because this incident just proves they are not when working with Aboriginal people as they come with their own racist attitudes or take on the attitudes and culture of that workplace.
T Hayes, what responsibility lies with friends and family in this case?
Aroha to all the generations of indigenous family who have suffered
Enough is enough
#riseupQLD PCCC HEARING (final 4 2015) – 5YRLY REVIEW OF THE CCC
https://www.facebook.com/events/1644245169196539/
#riseupQLD E PETITION
#riseupQLD E PETITION
Appointment of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander 2nd
Queensland Police Service Commissioner
TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House that Queensland Police Service (QPS) Commissioned Officers appointments do not reflect the cultural diversity of the community they represent. Aboriginal people under this policing oversight have remained over represented in the justice system continuing to be a major social issue. Cultural competency of the system at all levels needs to be increased to reduce the effects of ‘systemic whiteness’.
Best Practice does not discriminate in hiring practices in order to build the strongest possible workforce. A focus on diversification helps establish a more trusting climate between the police and different population groups. Increasing diversity offers access to a broad range of skills and services. QPS states it is a equal opportunity employer this is not reflected in commissioned positions historically or present.
Queensland enacted the Family and Child Commission Act 2014 from 1 July 2014. This Act requires two Commissioners to be appointed to the commission. One commissioner must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. This response addresses whiteness and racism. It enables depth of understanding of how racialising practices are at work in policy, professional practices and personal standpoint, even when approaches to embedding Indigenous perspectives align with recommended strategies.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to amend the Queensland Police Service Administration Act 1990 to reflect best practice and cultural competency by appointing a second Commissioner of Police with the requirement be that person must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-asse…/…/e-petition…
CLICK LINK 2 SIGN
p.s contacted W.A premier’s office not long after her death to discuss policy gaps between Centrelink debt payment and state revenue collection. Spoke to their project team on this matter.
If her family and friends had provided the same level of care to the woman as people are expecting the police to have done, would this whole mess have been avoided? Would the lady still be here?
I cried reading this….I hope to hell that this police woman who dragged Juliekas suffering body through the station goes for murder and that those who laughed and assumed that her suffering was self inflicted go for the charge. MURDER.
Do you really think the dragging is what killed her? She had staphylococcus infection, pneumonia and septicaemia.
Why would anyone drag someone?
They shouldn’t. But is that what killed her?
This article is full of assumptions and the writer is projected his expectations. How the #### can you state racism without any factual evidence?
Failing to pay a fine? Fines are imposed to avoid prison sentences also as a alternative.
Gerry, you made me cry with this piece. It’s so wrong that someone died like this, on so many counts. Why are people so rough on people less fortunate. Thank you for your work and this article. Diane
Do you ever why her friends and community let it get to the stage that she was in a DV situation, drug addicted, had unpaid fines?
Aroha to all Aboriginal families who have suffered for generations
We retain our composure, are a proud people, no other human being can kill our mana
enough is enough
Dear Gerry, I found you the most inspiring speaker at the conference in Brisbane yesterday. You connected the dots for many of us on domestic violence and also suicide. You are a man of passion and not just great knowledge. I was impressed with your openness and when you took on some of the other speakers. I will never forget the statistics you informed us with. I will never forget you challenging the Assistant Police Commissioner from WA and putting her on the spot about the betrayal of poor Ms Dhu and their failure to force WA government to implement as you said the custody notification service. I loved when you said they betrayed not only the memory of Ms Dhu but also their police officers who should not be making calls on health and the other stuff you said. You are a strong man and I wish more were like you.
Amy