yet another tragedy coming from police intervention in the northern territory but this time in katherine where mr. lewis, an aboriginal man and an amputee with major health problems, was arrested at a card game and held for 24 hours in the katherine police cells.
like mr. briscoe, there are claims by witnesses that mr. lewis was
ill-treated and brutalised by the local police. he himself complained to
his family that he had been treated roughly by the police and over the 24
hours he had been given no food or drink and, worse, no medication for his
diabetes.
he was released after the 24 hours in cells and he went home and then
died.
similar to the circumstances of the recent death of mr clark after being
sent from the alice springs gaol to the alice springs hospital where he
died, whereby he was refused the status of being a death in custody event, so
too mr lewis will be fought by the nt police that he, mr. lewis, is also not
to be categorised as a death in custody. it is of the utmost importance
that mr. lewis recieve a full official autopsy so as to ascertain his cause of death and any and all mitigating circumstances that may arise from his 24 hours spent in the katherine police cells.
we have fought such claims and counter-claims previously and so too we
must fight that mr. lewis is indeed accepted as a death in custody. his last
known interaction with others outside of his family was a 24 hour period
in the katherine police cells. that fact alone, leaving aside the claims of
his family and cell witnesses, must raise the concern of the territory
coroners department. especially with the violent video footage of mr. briscoe being
multiply assaulted by the alice springs police.
his sister, ms. dorris lewis, is strongly calling for a full coronial
enquiry into her brother's death and states that under no circumstances
can
the police version of events over that 24 hour period be allowed to be the
final word in the last hours of his life. the family and their supporters
especially need to view the cell and police station cameras that have mr.
lewis shown.
we need a campaign and a lot of social muscle to ensure that the lewis
family get their day in the coroner's court. we urge all good people of
sound and moral mind to write, call or email those nt parliamentarians
listed below and join with the lewis family in their fight for justice for
the death of their loved one.
dorris informs us that this is the second death in custody event that has
affected the family, the first being the nt police in 2004 running over
another family member and killing him. of course no charges were laid. for
the family of mr. briscoe his was the third death in custody to touch that
family. i believe that i could quite safely say that for the families
living in the nt no family would be untouched by a death in custody event.
and that horrific fact clearly shows just how bad the nt custodial system
really is.
patricia morton-thomas, the aunt of mr. briscoe, has visited the lewis
family to support them in their time of sorry business and need for
support. she states that since 2009 there has been 5 police-related death
in custody events involving police in the nt. if this does not ring alarm
bells with the terry mills clp government and the nt coroners that the
custodial system is just not bent but shows unequivocally that the system
is broken. and seriously deadly broken at that!
it seems that the nt will continue to be the killing ground of racism and
change is beyond the time socially required to make that change. will
chief minister terry mills as the police minister and kon vatskalis as the
shadow police minister finally accept the task of changing police
practices and procedures in the territory? will alison anderson, as the
minister for indigenous advancement, argue as strongly for the much needed
change that will turn the loss of aboriginal life in the nt as she is
arguing against bilingual education? i do not agree with her argument but
she does have the right to put her personal view no matter how wrong it
may be. john elferink as the nt attorney-general and lynne walker as the
shadow attorney-general also must play an important role in making the
required changes to be brought to a positive fruition. delia lawrie, as
the opposition leader, and terry mills must take their parliamentary
members, by the throat if necessary, and drag them into making the changes
to save the lives of aborigines who come into contact with the police.
the territory coroner, greg cavanagh, also has a role to play in this
social change. his being scathing of the police actions and procedures is
of little value if his recommendations do not reflect his disgust, both
moral and legal, in his decisions. we urge the coroner to insist that the
death of mr. lewis must be dealt with as a bona fide death in custody
event.
it is up to us to make that happen and i call on all readers of this post
to make contact with the list below to make your concerns and wishes known
to those who run the system. but we need to do more than that. we need to
become active and protest that the unnecessary deaths must stop.
to do that you can join our protest outside of the nsw coroners court at
parramatta road glebe at 12.30 on thursday, 1 november, 2012, to raise our
support and solidarity with the families of mr. briscoe, mr. curti and mr.
lewis. all three, in our opinion, have been badly treated at the hands of
the justice system in the nt and nsw. we stand solidly in support of all
families who have lost a loved one at the hands of the custodial systems
and, in this case, the proven brutality of the police in both areas.
we offer our sincerest condolences to dorris lewis and the family,
community and many friends of mr. lewis. we know that he now walks his
land in peace.
we offer our support to the lewis family in their struggle for justice.
contacts:
government
terry mills chief minister and minister for police gpo box 3146 darwin
0801. (p) 08 8928 6500
chief.minister@nt.gov.au
john elferink attorney-general po box as above (p) 08 8928 6615
minister.elferink@nt.gov.au
alison anderson minister for indigenous advancement po box as above (p) 08
8928 6587 minister.anderson@nt.gov.au
opposition
delia lawrie leader of the opposition po box 3700 darwin (p) 08 8928 6668
opposition.leader@nt.gov.au
lynne walker shadow attorney-general po box as above (p) 08 8946 1446
lynne.walker@nt.gov.au
kon vatskalis shadow police minister po box as above (p) 08 8946 1475
kon.vatskalis@nt.gov.au
the coroner, greg cavanagh has no public e-mail address but contact may be
made by writing to him at gpo box 1281 darwin 0801 or (p) 08 8999 7770
i am often told that i only ever report the bad and not the good. not so,
say i.
i place a report under the article for mr. lewis that definitely that
accusation to shame.
good news is there but very rare so herewith another good news article.
fkj
ray jackson
president
indigenous social justice association
isja01@internode.on.net
(m) 0450 651 063
(p) 02 9318 0947
address 1303/200 pitt street waterloo 2017
we live and work on the stolen lands of the gadigal people.
sovereignty treaty social justice
Green Left Weekly
Aboriginal death in Katherine after release from custody sparks calls for
inquiry, justice
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Rollback the Intervention released the statement below on October 24.
* * *
Another death of an Aboriginal man potentially involving police in the
Northern Territory has
sparked calls for an inquiry and urgent action to stop police harassment
and
brutality.
Mr E Lewis, a Warlpiri man living in Katherine, passed away shortly after
being released from
police custody on September 23.
Mr Lewis was a diabetic amputee, who was held in custody for more than 24
hours. He died in his
sleep shortly after being released.
Family of Mr Lewis say there are many witnesses alleging he was treated
roughly during his
arrest, which occurred during a large card game in Katherine.
They also say that before his death, Mr Lewis had complained about being
dragged and kicked in
custody, along with being denied food, water and medication.
Mr Lewis' sister Dorris is demanding a coronial inquiry to examine the
circumstances of the death.
She has been unable to find out the cause of death. "We need for there to
be
a full inquiry into
this death," she said. "It's not enough for the police to be in charge of
the investigation. We feel
only with an inquiry will we see the truth. And we need to see the CCTV
footage from the cell right
now.
"Many witnesses, non-Indigenous people too, have told our family that he
was
treated very
roughly when he was taken into custody. He was dragged and thrown. They
didn't care that he
only had one leg.
"Before he passed away, my brother was telling his family that he had also
been treated very
roughly in the watch-house. He also said that he had not been fed or given
drink or any
medication. He could hardly sit up when he got home.
"After he had struggled to eat some food he went to sleep and passed away.
"We can't just let this go. We believe that the police must be held
responsible. Unless there is
some justice, they will just keep treating our people like this. The
responsible officers need to be
sacked for how they treated my brother.
"In 2004, we lost another family member from the police. They ran him over
like a dog. All they did
was pay some money and that was forgotten, no police got charged. This
wouldn't happen to a
non-Indigenous person. We need justice to be done for these deaths or it
will keep happening.
"We don't see that the police are here to keep Australia in peace, or keep
our town safe. Some
police are nice and doing a good, real job. But others are going around
dragging and bashing
Aboriginal people and mistreating whether they are drunk or sober. We feel
that they are doing
criminal things themselves but always get away with it. Why can't we all
treat each other with
respect in this country and live as one?"
Patricia Morton-Thomas, spokesperson for the family of Kwementyaye
Briscoe,
who died in police
custody in January, has visited the family of Mr Lewis in Katherine. Ms
Morton-Thomas has
pledged to fight to uncover the truth about his death and see that justice
is done.
"This is now the fifth death in suspicious circumstances involving police
or
corrections staff since
2009 and the body count is unacceptable," Morton-Thomas said. "The
Northern
Territory
government must do something urgently about the brutality and harassment
that our people are
experiencing at the hands of the police.
"Despite what happened to my nephew, my families consistent calls for
justice and for the police
department to change their ways, they are ignoring us and continuing with
their inhumane
treatment of Aboriginal people.
"We encourage all families who are victims of police brutality to join
with
us in the call for justice."
[For more information phone Dorris Lewis 0467 044 795, Patricia
Morton-Thomas 0432 612 105.]
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/52622
Policeman loses appeal against assault conviction
By Carolyn Herbert
Posted Fri Oct 26, 2012 2:09pm AEDT
Policeman's appeal against assault conviction fails Photo: Dismissing
the appeal, Chief Justice Trevor Riley said there was "no explanation
for the offending". (ABC TV)
Map: Alice Springs 0870
A Northern Territory Police officer who was found guilty of assaulting a
man in police custody has had an appeal against his conviction dismissed.
In July, an Alice Springs magistrate heard that Constable Ashley
Burkhart used his arm to hit 28 year-old-Joshua Robertson on the head
while he was in police custody.
The constable argued he was acting in self-defence because he thought Mr
Robertson was going to spit at him or head-butt him.
Magistrate Greg Borchers said Mr Robertson was unable to defend himself
because his arms were restrained behind his back and handcuffed.
Constable Burkhart was convicted and fined $400.
He appealed against the conviction.
In the Supreme Court in Darwin, Chief Justice Trevor Riley agreed with
the ruling of Mr Borchers.
Chief Justice said there was "no explanation for the offending".
The appeal was dismissed and the conviction upheld.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-26/police-officer-conviction-appeal-d...