March 6 - At WA state parliament - 3 years and no justice

3 years and still no justice

Gerry Georgatos

On March 6 it will have been three years since Rex Bellotti Jr was struck down by a police-four-wheel drive near midnight on Lower King Road in Albany, Western Australia.

Rex Jr was 15 years old at the time and only recently turned 18 however the fight continues to to save his leg from amputation. Further surgery and other procedures are required.

His father, Rex Bellotti Sr said, "On March 6 we will drive the message home that its been three years and that the WA Police are still to accept their responsibility and provide my family with the 100% injuries insurance and any form of compensation. On March 6 we will hold a rally for justice at state parliament while all those useless politicians sit inside twiddling their thumbs and having shots at each other rather than focus on the injustice to my boy, the damage that needs repair that has been done to my family, and all the Aboriginal injustices that mean sweet nothing to them."

The rally will commence at 11:45am on the steps of WA's state parliament and speakers will include Shilo Harrison and Chris Jenkins, coordinators of the Bellotti Support Group (BSG), and Darryl Kickett, a former head of the Kimberley Land Council and former president of the board of the Aboriginal Legal Services of Western Australia.

Nyoongar Tent Embassy folk have vowed to attend.

Ms Harrison said, "We will get the justice. The police will in time have to accept 100% liability, they're skirting around the truth and trying to settle for 70% however they struck down Rex Jr and need to own up rather than make up stories about how it happened."

Aboriginal Legal Services WA (ALSWA) CEO Dennis Eggington has confirmed that they will represent Rex Jr and that they have met with the family. Mr Eggington said that he and the ALSWA lawyers will meet in the very near future with Rex Jr and settle on the objectives. The Aboriginal Legal Services are celebrating their 40th year, and it was they who secured the 3.2 million dollars compensation settlement from the state government for the family of the Warburton Elder, Mr Ward who was burnt to death in the back of a prisoner transport vehicle on January 26, 2008.

The Bellotti Support Group has sponsored seven rallies in the last eight months, a public forum and huge awareness raising of what they claim actually did happen to Rex Jr. WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan who on October 28 promised to meet with the family and the BSG, however is still to meet, has sent the crash file to the state solicitor, with the findings pending, and a standing committee of WA's state government will deliver findings in late March on submissions provided to them by the BSG and others.

In October 2009, WA's Corruption and Crimes Commission slammed the handling of the police investigation of the crash that left Rex Jr fighting for his life and his leg hanging together by an aorta, said Ms Harrison.

The inaugural Rex Jr Walk for Justice, will begin on March 23 from Albany Police Station and finish up 450km later at state parliament. It is hoped that this shall be an annual event to highlight Aboriginal injustices.

"My son's life has been destroyed, his mental anguish is huge. Some justice can help him. His private school education and footballing potential are in tatters. None of us had been in any trouble with the law. My other five children are suffering, two are near blowing away their private school education. My family is in debt, we are dying inside. My six year old daughter wakes up and says 'daddy, why wasn't I born white?' and 'daddy, I wish I could die'. My children are either sad or angry. My wife and I have not had a good night's sleep in three years, we are often in tears. My wife and I are fighting to keep us together, racism is working against us, how much longer can we go on like this? When will there be some justice? Will we spend the rest of our lives going to the steps of state parliament for a justice that these parliamentarians just walk by and glance away from?" said Mr Bellotti Sr.

Ms Harrison said, "The police can settle the insurance at 100% and issue an apology for trying to cover their back by trying to say Rex Jr was trying to kill himself - witnesses have said this was not so. It was impossible for them to have made that assessment and there were no issues in Rex Jr's life. They'll never admit the whole truth, we don't expect that, but come on people have some decency and scrub up with the 100% insurance."

- If you can, be at the steps of WA's state parliament from 11:30am on March 6 - Nyoongar Tent Embassy will be there in support and solidarity - Rob Eggington from the Embassy will be one of the speakers, and the MC shall be Darryl Kickett, from CEO of the Kimberley Land Council, a former Head of the ALSWA Board and a Nyoongar Elder.