I said, “You lying dog, I seen what you did with my own eyes.”

by Gerry Georgatos During the last month Indymedia Australia and The National Indigenous Times in Editions 231 and 233 have highlighted the plight of the Western Australian Nyungar family whose young son, the eldest of their six children, was hit by a police-four-wheel drive. The incident occurred on March 6, 2009 and in that time the struggle for some justice and meaning had been lost in a vacuum of inhumanity, and only recently largely thanks to The National Indigenous Times and to Indymedia Australia and to the consequent awareness-raising have we prised some piecemeal gains.
Campaign resources: Belloti Support Group on Facebook -- Justice for Rex Bellotti Campaign Website
Background articles on IndymediaJustice for Rex Bellotti(4/8/2011) -- Justice for Rex Bellotti Jnr an inch closer - new witness and calls for an inquiry(1/9/2011)

As we liaise with humanity, tapping into the common good that many of us strive for and which is the inclination of an unfolding civilised society, the journey to some justice for this family, often having found themselves despairing and near various meltdown, some of us can see flickering light at the end of the tunnel which not long ago appeared a dark and dank chilly labyrinth of endless journeying. All had appeared hopeless however as hurtful as the bittersweet grief of standing up for what is right can be, this hopelessness was journeyed so as to manage anger and remove people from a precipice where without a step back there is a collapse into maddening. A new witness has appeared and has come forward who has corroborated some of the various third-party witness statements which are contrary to the statements of the involved police officers. The revelations from this witness, who did fear going public, however understands the need to rise to the occasion and that there is less to fear from recrimination than to be ashamed of by silence, has assured the Bellotti Support Group that she will submit her testimony to West Australia's Corruption and Crimes Commission.

To assist new readers to Indymedia Australia and to The National Indigenous Times it was reported in edition 231 and online with Indymedia that an Aboriginal youth, Rex Bellotti Jnr, aged 15 was run over by a four-wheel-drive police Holden Rodeo and more than two years have passed without any compensation, without any closure. When it comes to Aboriginal victims this is nothing new. However, the Bellotti family has not been prepared to accept the humiliations of silence and even in the face of perceived recriminations have risen to the occasion to speak out and seek some justice to help their son and further more to remove the cowardly and disgusting aspersions against their child by people who have been invested with trust by our communities and who should know much better.

In edition 233 and online with Indymedia Australia I closed the four page article with the following paragraph, "Rex Bellotti Jnr was a near death in custody - there have been two and half thousand deaths in custody since 1980, and there has never been a successful prosecution against anyone, police and prison officers in the deaths of those where many of us know an unnatural hand has played its part. There have been thousands of near deaths in custody, such as that of Rex Jnr, and from a prosecutorial outcome we have a similar predicament. (In relation to Rex Jnr he is not a police-custodial related incident as he has never been in trouble with the police or the law however he could have been killed, and nearly was, in a police-related incident). The case of Rex Jnr is important, as there appears to be liability and responsibility that has not been owned, and the Bellotti Support Group, and the various social justice groups now supporting them, will try to change practices and behavioural conduct by continuing to highlight what occurred to Rex Jnr, and that he should not go the way of so many others, like John Pat, like Mulrunji Doomadjee, like Mr Ward, and the hundreds of others. Let us remind ourselves that in the case of Rex Jnr he had not been arrested, he had not done anything to disturb the peace, he had not been disorderly, he was just walking home and when it appeared to be safe to do so, he just tried to cross the street." This is what burns deep for his father and mother, Rex Snr and Elizabeth and Rex Jnr's five younger siblings. He has never set a foot wrong in his young life, never looked likely to ever set a foot wrong, yet Rex Jnr and his family feel as if they are in some way criminals, and hence are seen as such by some others including the Western Australian Police.

It has taken admirable resilience and fortitude for the family to keep together and stay strong in light of everything they have endured and in light of the West Australian Police's disregard of them and of the Police's ultra-defensiveness to protect one of their own - and as if at all costs. The Police are yet to pay out compensation through their insurers, they only want to agree to 70% liability in terms of insurance and two and half years later are still unable to settle any part of this tragedy civilly and honourably and with due regard for the Bellotti family. However, as this article will reveal they may find themselves surprised in the coming weeks to find that they will be served with a Writ to appear in Court.

Rex Jnr's parents are Nyungar-Yamatji Maaman Rex Bellotti Snr and Nyungar Yorga Liz Bellotti, 42 and 40 years of old, and they have spent their lives working very hard to ensure the likelihood of the personal advancement of their children, in the belief that Aboriginal advancement should be achieved by Aboriginal peoples. They had never asked for help and had worked to ensure that their six children now aged 6 to 17, have had every reasonable opportunity. They have given every little bit of what they have to provide for their children the experiences and hopes of a private school education.

Rex Bellotti Jnr and his family in happier times

On March 6, 2009, the Bellotti family's eldest son, Rex Jnr., aged 15, was involved in a police-related-incident. It was not of his making, he was an Aboriginal person at a place that police were converging upon. All Rex Jnr was trying to do was cross a road, and feeling quite safe to do so with apparently no vehicle in sight in the heart of the night's darkness he attempted to cross the road - before he knew it he was struck by a police four-wheel-drive which he claims, and so do others, did not have its headlights on however the involved police officers claim they did have the headlights on. Since this police-related-incident Rex Snr, Liz and Rex Jnr and his five siblings have not only had to deal with the trauma of grievous injuries sustained by Rex Jnr they have also had to cope with the culture of brutal silence surrounding the Albany and West Australian Police and with the minimalist fodder that we have all long learned to expect from various government authorities, ministerial portfolio holders and from the agencies which argue various demarcation and claim to be independent auditors and investigators.

The Bellotti Support Group are approaching an increasing number of parliamentarians, and it is fair to note that there would now be few parliamentarians in Australia who during the last couple of months have not heard of Rex Bellotti Jnr. A great thanks has to go to The National Indigenous Times, whom I now write for as a WA correspondent, however this article is a demarcated opinion piece, for approaching me to write these features for the readers of The National Indigenous Times which I knew include most state and federal parliamentarians and certainly most ministers. A great thanks has to go to Indymedia Australia which reaches out to so many and forever archives a context and view of the world not included in the mainstream news media and the more folk who come online with Indymedia the more information they shall be versed in from which to assert a more informed view of the world and events. This awareness-raising has been pivotal in relocating the Bellotti family lost in a vacuum of inhumanity to the opportunity of liaising with the trickle of humanity that is endowed with greater capacities and thresholds than the endeavours alone of the unending human spirit owned by the Bellottis and the advocates and supporters who have swelled around them and increasingly so in recent times. This liaison with the trickle of humanity that can swing things towards the prospect of effective remedy will unveil much more in the fullness of time and some of this will be unfolded in this article. Indeed, what I shall describe further on in this third feature in The National Indigenous Times and online with Indymedia on this road to some justice are the contents of some damning statements secured under the Police Freedom of Information Act, the submission to the Corruption and Crimes Commission of Western Australia to re-open the handling of the police investigation into the police-related incident in which Rex Bellotti Jnr was struck down by a police four-wheel-drive, and I will explain the never-before-seen sudden support of WA parliamentarians in the seeking of justice and effective remedies for the family of the Bellottis, and the securing of a pro bono lawyer and one who is well reputed, and I will describe that the WA Police may indeed be served with a Writ in the coming weeks to appear in Court, in civil proceedings to bring to account what occurred and to settle the wrong-doing of delaying insurance and compensation payments. There are important facts and events that I am not able to disclose and they may well be reserved for a subsequent feature or for their general reporting by the various news media. Finally, advocates and supporters will this week call upon the Office of the Commissioner of Police in Western Australia to meet with them and the Bellotti family. With civility they shall call upon Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan to circumvent the thus far brutal silence of the WA Police, and to act with propriety in accordance with WA Police spokesperson Bill Munnee’s admissions that the police investigations were mishandled and that the officers have since been case managed to improve their skills, though one of them has been an officer for two decades - we hope the Commissioner will work pro-socially and expedite certain remedies and various requisite admissions by the West Australian Police. Much of this would not have occurred as quickly as it has if it was not for The National Indigenous Times giving ‘voice to the voiceless.’ I am not writing as a journalist for the paper on this occasion and I am not known by anyone to say or write anything I don’t mean, and I am known to be outspoken where necessary and even in the face of various recriminations towards me, bearable or not, and even in the face of ostracisation, however I am warmed by The National Indigenous Times being the first mainstream newspaper in this country to substantively pick up on a tragedy that should not have been allowed to lay dormant this goddamn long. Other newspapers have shown an interest and some have produced the irregular articles however it is only The National Indigenous Times’ substantive coverage truly resonating a voice for those far too long denied this, and it is The National Indigenous Times manifest of a through-care journalism that has given rise, and not left behind as happens with much of the news media, the need for the spotlight to continue and to contribute to remedies.

The horrific injuries suffered by Rex Bellotti Jnr

For far too long, since March 6, 2009 till the middle of this year the Bellotti family had struggled for its voice, for its right to be heard, for others, especially from the legal fraternity and the various community and social justice groups to rise to the occasion and to enrich their right to voice, to provide the assistance that they so desperately and rightly deserve. They came to me, and we organised a series of rallies on the steps of WA’s State Parliament, three in fact and these within a week of each other, and each one with a growing attendance, and whenever we saw a parliamentarian we stopped them and offered them an education of what occurred to Rex Bellotti Jnr. After the third rally some of the protestors came together and formed the Bellotti Support Group which has met every Wednesday since, without fail. They brought on a rally in the heart of Albany, four hundred kilometres south of Perth, the town where the Bellottis once lived, where Albany police hit Rex Jnr, and where he nearly died. People came to the rally from right throughout the southwest of WA and Perth.

On March 6, within the last hour prior to midnight Rex Jnr was leaving a Wake when he was struck by a police vehicle, a four-wheel-drive, with a roo-bar, which according to witnesses was driving on the wrong side of the road. It has been alleged that Rex Jnr was hit by the vehicle on the opposite side of the road, however the police officers in question deny this and conversely claim that they were driving on the correct side of the road, and that it was not on the opposite side of the road that Rex Jnr was struck by their vehicle. However, what beggars belief for many non-Aboriginal Australians is the keystone, almost circus-like police investigation that for a significant period of time struggled to take effect, and for a crucial period of time had very little form and content. There was no bona fide investigation during the immediacy of the event; for Aboriginal peoples these insults and this sort of behaviour are common place and matter-of-fact.

In this third feature I can finally publish one of the third party statements that stirs such a burning that it is unfathomable why the police themselves at the time did not further investigate matters and why they did not call for an external inquiry. They have allowed for various imputations to arise by the dark pall that has been cast as aspersions upon the Albany police force, the Office of the Great Southern Police and the West Australian Police. Furthermore, this dark pall lingers over the Corruption and Crimes Commission of Western Australia, in that though they damned the handling of the police inquiry and made a number of remarks that rebuked the officers, generating hazy stifled consternation, they did not proceed beyond the generic argument that there was ‘inadequate’ evidence to proceed further or for the laying of charges. This line is used by internal police investigators, the Departments of the Public Prosecutors, and by the Offices of the Attorney-Generals, and even by the various corruption and misconduct commissions Australia-wide, to immolate initiative and prevent the prosecution and/or successful prosecution of police officers in complaints of them that an unnatural hand contributed to a death in custody, a near death in custody, in police-related-incidents, in the mountain slide of serious grievous complaints. This explains why no police officer or prison officer has been successfully prosecuted from the handful explored by trial in this country – ever.
A statement from one of the witnesses reads:

“(11) I saw the male person get run over by the front and rear tyres on the right hand side of the car. (12) The car swerved suddenly again towards the opposite of the road I was standing on and stopped on the footpath. (13) I saw the driver get out of the car quickly and he said, “I didn’t do anything, it wasn’t my fault.” (14) I said, “You lying dog, I seen what you did with my own eyes.” (15) I stood there and watched the boy for a while, the paramedics rocked up and tried to help him. (16) I saw the ambulance take the boy way and a police officer asked me if I had seen anything. (17) I said, “Yes”’

This excerpt from a third-party witness statement is damning, and not just indicative of anomalies, and there are others similarly contrary to the police statements. I am not attempting to portray what may or may not have occurred however I am attempting to portray that it appears evident that there were adequate grounds for an external investigation of what may or may not have occurred. I am surprised that the Corruption and Crimes Commission of Western Australia did not find adequate grounds to proceed with a more thorough investigation and to explore whether in fact something untoward had occurred, or whether facts had been misrepresented by the involved police officers. The CCC did the WA Police no favours by doing what is usually done and that is accept an investiture of faith and goodwill in the police in that it is unlikely they would have knowingly done anything wrong. With such variance in the official witness statements surely there are adequate grounds to explore matters further either by extended investigation, or by a propriety which calls for an inquiry, sponsored by the State Government or the CCC, or by the laying of charges and then explored before the Court. If this had been an ordinary citizen who had been driving, and indeed not an on-duty police officer, and who had struck someone, and who others coalescing as witnesses who in their statements alleged similarly as has been alleged thus far against the involved police officers, whether they had done anything wrong or not, it is unlikely that they would not have been charged – it is highly probable that they would have been charged and that the criminal justice system and the Department of Public Prosecutors would be the authorities to determine whether these charges should be followed through or not – however to my mind it is more likely that the DPP would have allowed for the proceeding of the matters culminating in court appearances and where the Magistrate or a jury would decide on the adequacy and calibre of the evidence.

On September 9, it was revealed by WA's Corruption and Crime Commission's parliamentary inspector, Christopher Steytler that 381 allegations of serious police misconduct over a period of only two years had not been investigated by WA's Corruption and Crimes Commission. The CCC was criticised for its close links with the WA police, and whether this criticism and the imputations are fair, nevertheless these are legitimate arguments in the call for a demarcated and independent Inspectorate that has no ties with the Police and which reports directly to State Parliaments. It appears to many that these crimes and misconduct commissions appear to pursue the laying of charges only when they have indisputable evidence, rather than evidence that could be argued as being beyond a reasonable doubt. This evidence seems to limit itself to self-admissions, which are obviously highly unlikely, and to recorded footage, such as CCTV, which has caught out a number of police and prison officers in recent times and especially in Western Australia, and also to audio recording often by phone tapping. The criminal justice system should not be limited in such ways to having the proof provided on a platter as to whether police have told porkie pies or acted ignorantly like buffoons, nor should it function in this manner and any time, and especially in light of the fact that it does burden presumptions with less evidence against folk from the rest of society. The criminal justice system should explore police-related-incidences and engage in a proper conversation of what may or may not have occurred and unveil to the best of its ability the contextual truths.

Shattering the trust that the WA Police have asked of us is another statement levelled by a witness who alleges that Rex Jnr, who laid on the road, in the dark dank of the sharpest night, after being struck and according to some dragged underneath the police four-wheel-drive which the involved police officers do deny, that his injured body, with his lower right leg barely hanging on from the knee, was moved by the police officers and located a little further into the middle of the road. I am not trying to portray whether this occurred or not however I am portraying the impropriety that an investigation or inquiry did not ensue to substantively explain these radical differences between statements from the involved police officers and the various witnesses. From a statement released under the Police Freedom of Information Act I have extracted the following:

“...the police moving him but they looked like they were moving him more into the middle of the road. I thought that they shouldn’t have been moving him at all. I didn’t understand why they were trying to move him more into the middle of the road. After that I walked off I had called an ambulance and I didn’t want to see anything else. I drove someone else to tell his ----- what happened.”

Whether this occurred or not it is such a damning accusation, such an incredible aspersion on the involved police officers that if we put aside the sake of Rex Bellotti Jr however for the sake of these police officers, let alone the WA Police, that there should have been a full-blown inquiry. How could such an allegation be allowed dormancy? This is the type of practice that with a latent effect undermines society and for example has developed so much mistrust between Aboriginal peoples and the police, and for others like the poorest and most vulnerable, including the abject homeless, and the police.

The police investigations were so shoddy that the CCC appeared indeed befuddled by the various Police authorities - Albany local and subsequently the Major Crash Unit, the Great Southern Police - in that they did not obtain with good speed the testimony of the various third-party witnesses. The Corruption and Crimes Commission Report into the police handling of the investigation of the police-related-incident in which Rex Jr was struck by a police four-wheel-drive damningly found, “Given the injuries suffered by Rex Jr, it would be hard to accept that the lack of obtaining statements is merely ‘an oversight’.” Strangely, the police sought from the father of the victim, Rex Snr in that amidst his grief and caring for his son, that he should seek out witnesses – this is unheard of. Much is signified from the mellow commentary from the CCC report which includes, “The media reports that appeared in The Sunday Times were dated 10 March and 11, 12 and 19 April 2009. It is also apparent that as soon as Superintendent Leekong from the Great Southern District Office reviewed Sergeant Liddelow’s investigation file, he transferred the matter to the District Traffic Co-ordinator forthwith. Whilst the media reports clearly had a bearing on this transfer, there is nothing necessarily inappropriate in this conduct. It is quite likely that the media attention this matter received simply brought the matter to Superintendent Leekong’s attention, at which point he found that Sergeant Liddelow’s investigation of the matter was not adequate. Nevertheless, it highlights deficiencies within the management systems at Albany Police Station for monitoring of the progress of matters within their office. The Commission is of the view that while Sergeant Liddelow did make certain attempts to interview some witnesses, his efforts did not extend far enough, and although Rex Jnr and Rickesha Jetta were not in a position to provide statements immediately, this should not have precluded him from seeking out other witnesses. It would appear that Sergeant Liddelow’s investigation of this matter was certainly below standard and this is not disputed by Police. Nevertheless, despite Sergeant Liddelow’s failings in this case, it would not appear that his attempts to locate witnesses bore any correlation to the media attention that this case attracted.”

In the second feature of this thus far three part series unfolding into what may or may not have occurred to Rex Jnr I described that for myself one of the worst and lowest acts is what I believe is the obvious racism of some of the Albany and Great Southern Police. Several days after the police struck Rex Jnr, the local newspaper, the Albany Advertiser carried assertions by the police. The police were reported to have claimed in the article that Rex Jnr intentionally jumped in front of the police four-wheel-drive vehicle and that he tried to commit suicide. How dare they? Would they have pulled that conclusion out of the bag if he was not an Aboriginal youth? I believe to save their skins from the various limited liability and culpability they dug deep into the various stereotypes that are shoved down the throats of non-Aboriginal Australians, and that are underwritten by the high incarceration and mortality rates of young Aboriginal Australians, and by the endemic induced poverty that underwrites Aboriginal Australians who languish in such suffering and torment. They made a huge judgment call however garnered the judgment call on well known stereotypes and the statistics that are pummelled out by various agencies through their media spokespeople. They did not bank on the fact that this is a family that works very hard to beat the odds heaped upon impoverished Aboriginal peoples and that their children are private school educated.

In the heart of darkness, near midnight, with what I believe with the likelihood of the police vehicle’s headlights turned off, with minimal lighting on Lower King Road, in a matter of a few critical seconds, with an inability to find the seconds to stop the vehicle, these police officers claim that they made the incredible assessment that Rex Jnr was trying to kill himself – this is impossible. I know how dark it is at that time in places such as Lower King Road, and you may be able to discern form however the content and its detail are difficult to see, if at all. He did not try to commit suicide and on that point I will stand by Rex Jnr and the family as if I was there on the night, as if I was a witness to the events, as I feel the reports and the testimonies guarantee me adequately this propriety. How dare these officers insult the family, the parents that they did not know their son’s mental health, his state of mind, how dare they? I believe, unlike many others, that this was an accident, in that the police officers did not see him till too late, however they should own up and can still do so, and it is more than just cowardice that they have not, it is discrimination and racism. A statement by a police officer who investigated the scene months after the incident reads, “(6) I have been attached to the Major Crash Investigation Section on two occasions, the first period from March 1997 to February 2003 and from September 2003 to present. (7) On Tuesday June 2nd 2009 I attended at Lower King Road in Albany where I viewed the location of a serious crash that had occurred on March 6th 2009 in the vicinity of number ---- (8) I attended the scene approximately 1830 hours and found the area to be very dark with no light on the street pole outside.” This is the dilemma that indicts aspersion and casts doubt on the claims that the involved police officers could have assessed and discerned in the critical seconds before impact, in a second or two at best, while braking and swerving, any facial detail and demonstrative body movements and language from Rex Jnr so as to perceive that he was attempting suicide. Bollocks. The involved police officers and the WA Police need to apologise to Rex Jnr and to his parents.

The Bellotti Support Group is impatient in its wait for the Corruption and Crimes Commission of Western Australia to contact them about their decision in regards to the submission to the CCC to reopen the investigation. This is important as many of us need to witness trust building exercises. Many of us do not understand why a public inquiry has not yet been called for – in light of the mishandling, in light of the extreme allegations, in light of the contrary content in various statements. Rex Jnr can be representative of a need to urge long overdue effective remedies for all those who have wrongly suffered and for all those long gone who will never know that the light of day shone justice upon those to come after them. It is no good for many social justice groups and many heavily resourced organisations acting on behalf of the cause for social justice to argue in terms of effecting change through government policy and legislative changes alone – actually this has been done again and again, however the problem that lies obstinate like the most prickly thorn bush is that we have not eroded racism, that we haven’t crushed discrimination, and that we have not out-dated favour dispensation and nepotism – and this will be achieved only by unveiling in the visual acuity of the public domain the various layers of hostile racism that underwrite the Australian national identity and our governments and agencies, and these layers, with their many premises, carried inter-generationally from origins-of-thinking that should have been long gone, do frame them, most certainly so. Social justice groups and large organisations which much applaud themselves, and with one laureatte after another, need to demarcate from relationships which skew their moral compass - they can remain civil however they must not act as if relationships with government and certain agencies and authorities mean more than individual and collective injustices and violations against peoples.

Social justice reference groups and organisations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission will make real differences only when they stand up for every individual violation of a human being, every individual predicament, and not just pick and choose what suits their profiles and agendas. They must demand accountability and stand side by side with the provision of real support, rather than they too contribute to the vacuum of inhumanity by passing the buck to others, or more likely to no-one, while they claim that they will argue for change by mere generic dissemination - by ‘statistics’ and ‘report making’ and ‘behind the scenes’ efforts. If they cannot represent Rex Bellotti Jnr, someone who has never committed a crime, who was never been under the watch of police, who was never in his life likely to commit a wrong, then they do not have the right to speak on behalf of the downtrodden and the oppressed, nor speak generically on behalf of people, the victims, forever unknown to them as if people are mere statistics, mere numbers. The Office of the Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda, was asked if he could assist Rex Bellotti Jnr and/or even comment, and his office civilly said they could not assist. They can go to hell, because effectively that’s what they told Rex Bellotti Jnr. It is not just Mick Gooda, indeed a good person, and the AHRC who have abandoned people and who do not adequately rise on behalf of the individual predicament, it is many similar organisations, small and large, and many highly paid human rights professionals who stagnate or slow down the unfolding of the human rights language and the common good. All those with the capacity to help people as once upon a time they promised early on in their ‘careers’ should remember that the days we are on this earth are not many and maybe all the meaning that we have is on this side of death, and it is high time to act as if there is no tomorrow. I am not a Social Justice Commissioner, and I am not a parliamentarian, I am not a broker of power and influence however if I can do, as I have again and again for those in predicaments like Rex Jnr, for the most vulnerable, or as I am doing at this time for the impoverished Indonesian children, up to 100 of them, incarcerated in Australian adult prisons by our government, and as are the advocates of the Bellotti Support Group, such as Shilo Harrison, Chris Jenkins and Darryl Kickett (former CEO of the Board of the ALSWA and former President of the Kimberley Land Council), as much as has been done for Rex Jnr then the Australian Human Rights Commission and all likewise agencies and all those parliamentarians can do a country mile more. When this eventuates and when those with capacity and position drop the cowardice and the self-regard and relocate themselves to other-regarding apothegms then the human rights language will add to its vocabulary, swelling, expanding, and in crushing, eliminating discrimination and racism.

At the most recent Rally for Justice for Rex Jnr, where the state opposition leader, and a possible future Premier, Eric Ripper attended and spoke and gave promise of his support, Shilo Harrison, of the Bellotti Support Group, spoke to state parliamentarian Peter Tinley, and Peter did what few others thus far have done – the through-care – much has been promised by many, including federal senators, and silence followed. Peter Tinley organised a meeting at his electorate office and then organised a meeting with a well reputed lawyer. Accompanied by one of Peter’s staff Rex Sr and Liz, Shilo and myself met with the lawyer. The lawyer has taken the case on after attentively listening and asking a number of questions, and of course he would read through the many police and witness statements and documents. I feel that it would be fair comment to write that the lawyer said, “It appears a shitty-thing has been done by the Police.” I’ll never forget Liz’s words, “Often I feel we can’t go on anymore, that all this grief is too much but we hang in there for our son, who did nothing wrong, and for our children who are hurting.” The next day after the meeting with the lawyer, Rex phoned me and said, “Gerry, last night was the first night in two and half years I have been able to sleep, to have a reasonable sleep.” My hope for the family is that in the first instance, so their children continue their private school education which means so much to the parents, and to the children who have not known otherwise, that the Police settle compensation, and with some propriety through various admissions, prior to civil proceedings unfolding – and that this gesture will mark ways forward with the rest of the journey. Rex Jnr needs justice, he does not need to see his family impoverished and the ruination of dreams worked for by his parents, since Rex and Liz came together in the prime of their youth and who have devoted their lives, like many parents, to their children. Rex Jnr needs to be given every support, aid and every opportunity hence for the future despite the many hard worked up hopes that have been taken from him. He is owed this dignity, it’s his right, and in lieu of everything that has occurred the WA Police can only go forward by doing what’s right and not what’s cowardly.

The WA Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan must meet with the family and the advocates, and where appropriate with their lawyer, and bring peoples together and himself refuse to mortar the divides which undermine humanity. He too has the opportunity to live up to the many promises of his profile, to the better world he promised in his own PhD research, and rather than oblige some nonsensical predominant duty to the WA Police, his duty must be to humanity, and this is in the best interests of everyone – the future of the WA Police would be indebted to him for crossing divides, for bringing on humanity, for coalescing trust. Fred Chaney, former federal minister and long time human rights campaigner, who I do respect, once said to me that I need to treat the pursuit of human rights as a marathon - in other words, do what I do however not be ‘full on’, because maybe being 'full on' divides peoples, however I cannot go slow, and I do not agree. My conviction is that we have to treat the various calls to unfolding the full suite of human rights as sprints, and yes ‘full on’, otherwise there are far too many folk, and hopefully Rex Bellotti Jnr will not be one of them, that in our lifetimes will never know justice, and will slip through the cracks and will become those statistics that far too many have become articulate in disseminating however far too few of them represent the individual predicament.

And to The National Indigenous Times once again I write thank you, for you’ve allowed the call to justice to be a sprint, and this is what I believe we need. I can assure readers the Bellottis are grateful, and to the point of tears, and I for one will never forget what The NIT has had a hand in developing in the last couple of months. In my opinion a newspaper should not be so narrow as merely to look into peoples’ lives however should be the wave of knowledge concomitant with urges to improve lives and human worth. To Indymedia, with its global social reach, may readers far and wide, throughout our world, resonate our humanity and together we send messages of support and call upon the corridors of justice to do their calling. May Indymedia and The National Indigenous Times continue to grow in readership, for every new reader, so is born a ray of hope, and these flickers become millions. Our days are numbered, they need not to be wasted.