Family of Indigenous man who died in custody fronts NSW inquiry into coroner's court process - ABC News

Some of the country's top Indigenous lawyers are calling for major reforms to state coronial investigation processes to help grieving families who are "losing faith" in the system.

Key points:

• The inquiry heard that Indigenous imprisonment rates are higher than ever
• The inquiry is one Australia's first major examinations of Indigenous imprisonment rates after global Black Lives Matter rallies
• Among the submissions was a call for a new First Nations investigative body

Lawyers, advocates and Aboriginal families delivered evidence in the first day of public hearings at a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into Indigenous deaths in custody.

"It is very difficult for family of the deceased in an Aboriginal community to have faith in an investigation of a death in custody," said Tony McAvoy, on behalf of the NSW Bar Association.

"Families are put in a position where the decisions that are made are not as transparent as they should be and faith in the system is at a fairly low level," he said.

The coroner's court needs an Aboriginal commissioner to sit alongside the coroner, as well as more Indigenous liaison officers and greater resourcing, he told the inquiry.

Tony McAvoy was the first Indigenous Senior Counsel (SC) in the country.(ABC News: Xavier La Canna)

"The coroner should be resourced to do its job, that would mean resourcing the coroner's court, with the investigative powers, so that they can investigate independently [of police and corrective services]," Mr McAvoy said.

Mr McAvoy was Australia's first Indigenous SC, and used his opening remarks to encourage the inquiry to break a "culture of reporting and inaction" on these issues.

He drew attention to the fact that dozens of reports and inquiries, including the 1991 royal commission, had provided a roadmap to change, but that Indigenous imprisonment rates were instead higher than ever.

This inquiry is one of the first major examinations of the country's disproportionate rates of Indigenous imprisonment following Black Lives Matter rallies earlier this year.

Victim's family fronts inquiry

The family of David Dungay Jr also appeared before the inquiry today, after becoming figureheads for the fight to change the record on deaths in custody in recent months.

A 2018 inquest into the death of David Dungay Jr found none of the guards should face disciplinary action.(Supplied: Michelle Haywood)

David Dungay Jr died at Long Bay prison hospital in December 2015 after being restrained by several staff, the recent coronial inquest did not recommend any charges against officers.

"No mother should ever to have see the video of how her son died, begging to breathe," said his mother, Leetona Dungay, when recalling her son's own coronial inquest for the inquiry

"We know some changes have been made [following the coronial inquest,] but they are not enough and they are not systematic."

Ms Dungay delivered an emotional speech to the inquiry, telling the committee she felt no one "showed her son compassion" or "a bit of respect".

"My family was extremely sad that just days after he [my son] died the Corrections Commissioner told the media there were no suspicious circumstances."

Other legal organisations said there was a desperate need for more transparency and independence in initial investigations to deaths in both police and prison custody.

"The community should be confident that the findings of the coroner are accurate and that they are independent," Sarah Crellin, principal solicitor for the criminal practice at the Aboriginal Legal Service, said.

"The Aboriginal community has been crying out for this for some time, there is a distrust of authorities, and in my experience families grow increasingly suspicious of the process of police investigating police or corrective officers," she said.

Another witness said in cases where the cause of death was clear, families were suspicious because of the behaviour of investigating officers.

In submissions to the inquiry, there were calls to establish an entirely new First Nations investigation body.

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2020-10-26 07:01:00Z
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