Ray Jackson
please be reminded that the isja support protest for corey barker will take place outside the downing centre on thursday, 17 july, 2014 beginning in elizabeth street and rotating around to castlereagh street at 12.30pm.
in january, 2011, six police officers in the nsw town of ballina arrested and several of them badly assaulted mr barker. to add insult to injury, corey was charged with punching one of the officers concerned. for over a year these six officers colluded in this fabrication of evidence. when the matter came to court before magistrate halpern he considered that the evidence from the six officers was at some risk so he called for the camera footage of corey and the police at the ballina station.
this footage clearly showed that the police had lied on oath and they in fact had assaulted corey. he was thrown head-first into a table, repeatedly punched and kicked, hand-cuffed and thrown into a cell with serious multiple injuries. halpern summarily dismissed all charges against corey and, quite correctly, referred the actions of the six police to the police integrity commission for their consideration.
the pic began their investigations in 2012 and agreed that all six officers had to be charged with assault, perjury and other charges totalling 25 in all.
the six officers, past and presently serving, will be appearing in court on the 17th. 4 of the officers, namely sc. david hill, sc. mark woolven, c. ryan eckersley and c. lee walmsley have all been stood down pending the court outcome. it is believed that then-serg. robert mccubben and then-c. luke mewing have resigned from the police force.
for too many years groups and individuals have fought against the lying and nefarious actions by the nsw police as they rode roughshod over the justice system of this state. it is far from time that the police realised they are not all-powerful, they are not above the law and their role is to protect the citizenry and not to terrorise them.
all those of sound and moral mind will expect that these six past and serving officers must be held accountable for their criminality and thuggish behavior. we do not want these types of officers in the nsw police force. we are entitled to professionalism from the police and not the brutality that seems to be the order of the day currently.
we thank those judicial members who no longer will suffer the lies and hypocrisy of the police. we also congratulate the pic for their professionalism in investigating those cases that have been referred to them.
mostly however we must thank corey barker for his courage and tenacity in staying strong to his struggle for justice. we owe him a great debt indeed.
we give him the last word to date, "i can just sit back and relax while they're going through what they tried to put me through." hear, hear!
12.30pm this coming thursday outside the downing centre. come and support corey but most of all come and support justice.
some catch-up of other matters.
last night i had the distinct privilege and honour to be invited by eric bertie, the french-consul general, to attend the 235th anniversary of the storming of the bastille in 1789.
i also was asked to give an acknowledgement of country apropos isja being awarded the french human rights award, 2013. isja and the consul-general are still waiting for some recognition of the award by the mainstream media and press, the nsw government or any of the peak aboriginal bodies. this continued silence only enforces to me and isja that we are certainly doing our social justice work well.
on another matter, isja is planning for another aboriginal passport ceremony, by popular demand, on the 2nd anniversary of the original ceremony. the date of the event will be the on saturday 13th september, 2014. the venue will be advised shortly.
fkj
ray jackson
president, indigenous social justice association