WEBVTT - The Investigation Begins 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:06.000 Just before nine o'clock last night, the jury returned guilty 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:08.400 verdicts against all three defendants. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.040 It was absolute shambles to tell you the truth, just 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:12.000 actoutely really. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.560 Colored blood on his clothing the day after the alleged 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:14.960 atip on. 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:16.880 A shallow mud bank and it fits through river. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.079 Basically, I think most of the people are used to 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:20.520 me are good people. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.200 I think a really important question we need to ask 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.279 is how many Indigenous prisoners in Australia are innocent. 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.800 This is Curtain, a podcast where we pulled back the 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.360 blinds to shine a light on the darkest parts of 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.320 our justice system and ask who are the victims. 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:38.520 I'm Amy Maguire and. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.040 I'm Martin Hodgson, a senior advocate for the Foreign Prisoner 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:46.280 Support Service. Our producer is Paul Watts. Music by Clint 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.720 Curtis and produced in collaboration with the Brisbane Indigenous Media 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:55.520 Association and a warning. This series contains the names of 0:00:55.560 --> 0:01:01.080 deceased peoples and has distressing content that might upset listeners. 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.440 Last week on this program, we gave you a broad 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.960 outline of a story we've been working on for the 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:11.120 past six months. It revolves around an Aboriginal woman named 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:15.440 Linda who died tragically in Rockhampton in central Queensland. 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:18.600 Linda was found on a mud bank in the Fitzroy 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.480 River on September one, nineteen ninety one. Within a week, 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.400 four people were charged in relation to her death. All 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.640 of them were originally charged with her murder, and one 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:34.280 of these individuals was Kevin Henry, also known as Kurdain. 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:38.720 Kevin was charged with murder because he was supposed to 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.840 have dragged Linda to the river where he'd put her 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.959 in on the Tanuba House side, the south side of 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.520 the river. Her official cause of death was drowning. In 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.320 the last episode, we told you it was very unlikely 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:54.640 the body would have been put in on the Tanuba 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:55.880 House side of the river. 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.600 That finding was based on analysis of the historical title 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.800 record and a long one hundred and fifty meter parallel 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.000 line that ran alongside the north side of the river bank, 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:08.799 which showed it was more likely she was put in 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.440 on the north side of the river, the racecourse side. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.480 If Kevin had put her in the river, he would 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.320 have had to have made it to the north side 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.400 of the river, and it just wasn't possible. He had 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.320 no way of getting there, so why didn't police follow 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:22.760 that up? 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.480 Well? At the Tanuba House side, there were drag marks 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.840 that supposedly led from a grassy expanse next to Tanuba 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:35.720 House down to the river bank. Apparently that's the evidence 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.080 that helped implicate Kevin in the crime. Those drag marks 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:43.360 weren't originally found by police. They were found by an 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.800 Aboriginal man by the name of dark Hart. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.200 In this episode, we're going to go back a bit 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:53.400 and we're going to tell you what we know about 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:59.440 that day, August thirty, first Saturday, which was Linda's last day. Unfortunately, 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.760 Linda isn't here to tell us exactly what happened. Her 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.200 last moments are preserved in statements from people who saw 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:06.919 her that day. 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:11.040 Sadly, many of them had been drinking and also, sadly, 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.720 some of them would be involved in her death. Now, 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.919 it was getting into the later months of that year, 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.519 and so the footy season would have been wrapping up 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.960 on that Saturday. It was the beginning of the final season. 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:28.200 That afternoon, at three pm down in Sydney, the Western 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.840 Suburb's Magpies would face off against the canber Raiders, who 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.480 was the Glory Days for the Raiders, headed up by 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.560 Big Malmoninger and with a team basting the likes of 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.960 Lurie Daily and Ricky Stewart, you can imagine that a 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.680 lot of mob might have liked to have watched that game. 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:44.720 Now. 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.000 In the morning of that Saturday, hours before that game 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.080 kicked off, a fifty nine year old Aboriginal man by 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.480 the name of Duck Hut woke up down at Tanouba House. 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.360 He had slept there the Friday night, but it had 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:59.960 woken up probably a little after the sun had risen, 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.760 as he said he often did. He also would have 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.920 woken up before Kevin Henry, who had also slept there 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.120 at Nuba House that night, but who hadn't gotten up 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.800 until about one pm in the afternoon. It seems Duck 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.560 often slept down to Nuber House, but he also had 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:17.760 a room that he often used down the bottom of 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:18.960 the Great Western Hotel. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.479 The hotel was only a six minute walk away, still 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.919 there today, Duck isn't really clear about when he began 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.640 drinking that morning. Later on, while on the witness stand, 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.440 he testified that he didn't drink early in the morning, 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.960 but then later renegged and said he had started drinking 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.200 probably around nine am that day. He might have been 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.000 sharing a flagon with a couple of other people who 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:43.760 had also been staying at Tanuba. 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.760 But around midday, before Kevin woke up, Duck was a 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.359 little intoxicated and decided to walk the short distance to 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:52.560 the Great Western Hotel. 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:54.960 He wanted to go and get more alcohol. 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:55.640 Now. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.240 There were a couple of shorter roots he could have taken, 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.599 but he took the one that put him on the 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.919 path past the Crown Hotel, which used to be on 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.000 the corner of Bolsover and William Street, which is in 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.719 the Rockampten CBD, only a short walk from the mall 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:12.839 and also to Nuba House. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.880 The Crown Hotel was where a lot of Aboriginal people 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.360 used to drink. It isn't there anymore. It's been replaced 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.880 with a coffee shop that wouldn't look out of place 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.039 in a gentrified suburb in a big city. Near the 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.960 Crown Hotel, there would have been a shop on the 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.559 corner of Bolsover and William Street. Was out the front 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.840 of that shop that Duck came across Linda that day. 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:38.120 He'd met Linda before. He said they'd had a few 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:42.839 drinks at the Crown Hotel together about a week previously. Now, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.040 in the last episode, when we introduced Linda, we told 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.400 you about how we were only referring to her by 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:52.320 a first name out of respect for her family and 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.600 also out of respect for her memory. We won't include 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.919 every detail of her last hours in this podcast, but 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:03.280 sadly we have to include some details, but only which 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.960 we feel absolutely relevant to your understanding of this case. 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.680 Now, in the last episode, we also mentioned that Linda 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.640 was sick. She had been missing for about eight days prior, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.800 and she suffered from a mental illness. She suffered from schizophrenia. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.320 It meant she was prone to wandering. Linda was a 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.280 woman who had achieved a great deal in her short life. 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.080 She had achieved it despite coming from a background of trauma. 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.000 We'll probably never know what was going through her mind 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.039 that day, what she was suffering from, and the reasons 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.920 behind her actions, and it's important we don't speculate. It's 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.720 also important we don't blame her for what happened next. 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.640 Regardless of what you think of the people named in 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:48.599 this podcast, there is definitely one person who is undoubtedly blameless, 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.000 and that's Linda. 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.279 That day, Duck talked with Linda for a little while. 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:56.840 He said, it was about a quarter of an hour. 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:02.159 While outside they had a smoke, wasn't wrong. After that 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:05.240 that the two Duck and Linda went to an area 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:09.159 near the shop, which Duck refers to as the grain shed. 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.440 There they engaged in sexual intercourse. 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:17.240 Now Duck wasn't single. He was involved with someone, a 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.880 woman named Doreene Ivy. He said he had been involved 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.560 with Doreen for a couple of months and they were 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.520 known by others at Tanuba as being in a relationship. 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.880 On previous occasions, Doreen had referred to Duck as her man. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.480 Duck later agreed that he was fond of Dorene and 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.120 she was fond of him. 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.160 But regardless of the fact he was in a relationship, 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.280 Duck on that day still engaged in a sexual act 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:47.000 with Linda. Would have been upsetting to Doreen, his partner, 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:51.400 because sometime during that encounter she turned up and caught 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:55.680 Duck and Linda together. Now Doraen was not alone. She 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.600 was also with another woman, and that woman was Susan Aubrey. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.720 Dark had originally told police that Doreen and Susan caught 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.480 him and Linda in the act, but on the witness 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.000 stand he later claimed they found the master, possibly while 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.200 they were getting dressed. Now we told you Duck couldn't 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.720 recall many details. He couldn't remember what shirt Linda was wearing. 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.600 He also couldn't remember what Dorain or Susan Aubrey were wearing. 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.200 But he remembered that Linda was wearing a black and 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:30.240 white scarf around her head, not her neck, and she 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.880 had on black pants or what he called black strides. 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.440 Now that black and white scarf is interesting. There was 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:39.400 only one reason to wear a scarf in the central 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:40.199 Queensland hit. 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:41.920 It seems Linda may have. 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.280 Been barracking for the Black and white Western Suburbs and 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.040 no Plize that day, although we don't know or can't 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.480 confirm whether she was a Rugby League fan. But what 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.560 happened next is muddled. Duck never gives a conclusive answer. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.800 He claimed in court that Doreen didn't say anything to 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.760 him after she caught him with another woman. He then 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.040 said he left the three women and started on the 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:04.959 way to the Great Western Hotel. 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.800 But before appearing in court, he told the police that 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.760 Doreen had yelled at him and He later said that 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.760 he'd had a row with Doreen. Under cross examination from 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:21.360 Kevin's barrister, David Murray in the court, Duck claimed he 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.560 was not angry at Linda, despite the complications that had 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.560 caused with Dora, but then he concedes. This from the 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:34.360 court transcript, David Murray, Kevin's barrister, said, then when Doraan 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.760 caught you, you were sorry, weren't you, mister Hart, that 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:44.480 you'd been caught. Duk replies, most definitely. Murray says, most 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.360 probably because you didn't want to think that you were 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.680 going to fall out with Doreen, did you that worried 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:56.000 you didn't it? Duck said, yeah, that's right. Murray says, 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.480 do you remember what you told the police the reason 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.840 you stayed at the Great Western Hotel? I told them 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.920 that me and Doreen had a row. This is what 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:11.240 you said to the police. I knew Doreen was cranky 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:13.720 with me, so I stayed at the Great Western for 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:20.560 the night. Duck responds, Yeah, you were frightened to go 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:25.319 back to Tanuba, weren't you. Weren't you, mister Hart? Yeah, 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:26.280 that would be right. 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.320 Yeah, that day, Duck claimed he continued walking to the 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:32.000 Great Western. 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.000 He said he got there around one pm. 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:38.000 The manager at the time confirmed that he was knocked 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.600 back from ordering drinks, but he did eat there. 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.960 He then said he went down to his room in 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.960 the TV area and went to sleep, where he stayed 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:52.960 asleep from one to about four. At around four, he 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.360 apparently started drinking again with beer that he'd found under 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:02.960 his bed. He claimed he'd it there previously. He claimed 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.199 he never went back to Tanuba House that night, the 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:08.560 night Linda was brutally assaulted. 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:12.840 Now we do know Linda was assaulted, and remember the 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:14.600 other woman who caught Linda with duck. 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:16.600 Her name was Susan Aubrey. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.160 Well, now we have to tell you some really distressing details, 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.560 and we warn our listeners that what we're going to 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.360 tell you next is horrific. Martin has spent a long 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.960 time gaining and understanding of each of the witness statements 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:32.440 and what was most likely to have happened that night 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:38.920 at Tanuba. So, Martin, we know a little bit about 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.640 what happened earlier that day, around midday, but what happened 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.559 a bit after when Linda went back to Tanuba House, 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.280 there seems to be a blank. What happened when she 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:49.560 actually went back down there. 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.960 We know more than likely the football game had just finished. 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.320 We know that there was a considerable number of people 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:04.240 there that evening, and those people included Kevin, Susan Aubrey, 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:08.559 and Doreen who had caught Duck and Linda in the act, 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.200 as well as friends of Susan Aubrey, Margaret Bob, and 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:20.400 Amy Saunders. Immediately things got hostile, and that hostility was 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:26.439 directed towards Linda. At first, she was verbally assaulted and 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:32.920 generally warned off about going near their men. But things 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:37.360 got bad very quickly. You have to remember a considerable 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.160 amount of alcohol had been drunk by all involved. 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:42.839 Martin, do we know what happened next? 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:49.079 What we know for sure is that Linda was assaulted. 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:54.360 Who threw the first punch we can't be clear. According 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.080 to all the testimony, if you break it down, it 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:00.440 was either Susan Aubrey, who was there when Linda and 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:07.520 Duck were court, or Margie Bob. But very quickly three 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:13.640 women began a brutal assault on Linda, Amy Saunders, Susan Aubrey, 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:18.959 and Margaret Bob, and it was a violent assault. Linda 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.880 would later be described to have had wounds all over 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:27.319 her body, to her head, to her face, to her ribs, 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.800 and up and down her legs and arms. It was 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.040 a vicious attack, and it was predicated on the fact 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:39.520 that the women seem to have felt Linda shouldn't be there, 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.240 she didn't belong, and made him wantor around. 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.360 Martin, you talk about the level of alcohol that had 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:51.120 been you know that had been taken that day by 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.200 all involved, But how do we know that that's a 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:55.079 true account? 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:56.320 Do you know what I mean? 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.840 How do we know that it wasn't sort of tainted 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.160 by the amount of drink that so many people had 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:02.439 had that day. 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.880 All we can say is that in terms of the 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:10.520 assault on Lender itself by the three women, that all 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.480 the witness statements, and there are at least thirty of 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:19.440 them match up. In fact, those women pretty much concede 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.480 what they did. They would later plead guilty to being 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:27.120 involved in this attack, and the details of much of 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.360 the incident are pretty crystal clear according to everyone who 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:35.840 was there. So even with alcohol involved, the fact that 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.320 statements match up mean that at least that part of 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.240 the day we can be fairly sure of. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.960 And I guess it fits with what her injuries actually were. 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:46.880 So the details as described. 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.120 By the witnesses and maybe even some of the women 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.240 that fit with the injuries that he ultimately found on 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:52.760 her body. 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:56.640 That's right, And we know also that it matches up 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.320 with the forensic testimony given at the trial. So we 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.440 know that not only do witnesses give the statement not 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.560 only to the women involved confirm what happened and that matches, 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:13.360 but also that the forensic expert testified that the injuries 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:18.320 suffered to winda match up with what was described. And 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.920 we have to remember that this assault had the potential 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.400 to be lethal. We won't go into the brutal details 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.360 of what occurred, but we have to remind our listeners 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.840 that wind that did pass away later that night. How 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:38.960 exactly we don't know, but it is possible from all 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.920 the evidence that's been gathered that that assault did play 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.880 at least some part. How much of a part, we're 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:47.760 still to uncover. 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.280 Money you talk about it being quite a horrific assault. 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.360 Was it just punches or kicks or what do we 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.200 know actually happened to her? With our other implements. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:03.120 Used, those things certainly did occur, but the most horrific 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:08.440 injuries are a result of two things. The first is 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:12.360 that those who assaulted her, the women we've named, jumped 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.680 on Linda off some steps. But what happened next was 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:21.320 far more horrific a pole, and we don't know exactly 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.320 of what kind, and nobody in the court case or 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.960 in the transcripts can ever give us a detailed description 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.800 of what sort of pole it was. But at some 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.240 point Linda was impaled with that pole. 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.200 That assault actually could have had the potential to be lethal, 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.120 regardless of what happened after to Linda. 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.680 Would that be a possibility, It certainly. 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:49.480 Would be, and it matches up with the forensics. Although 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:54.000 no specific answers have ever really been given. What we 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:57.600 do know is that virtually every part of Linda's body 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:03.040 had bruising, bleeding, and trauma, and that includes on her 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:07.199 brain and bleeding below the surface of the scale and 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.160 on the tissue of the brain, and also some very 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.520 severe injuries to her body, some of which are a 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:15.040 result of that pole. 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:17.919 What did they do with her body? 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.280 What happened to Linda afterwards after that assault, because obviously 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:22.960 there was a lot of witnesses there. 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.160 The assault went on for a considerable period of time. 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:32.720 It started, and it stopped, and it started again. But 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.560 after the most horrific aspects of the assault, Linda was 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:41.399 left on the footpath on the pavement near Tanuba House 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.800 and soon after most of the people who had gathered 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.840 at Tanuba left for the Crown Hotel. 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.600 Were there any suggestions that Kevin Henry was involved in 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:54.200 this assault. 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:59.520 No, not a single witness, including the women who committed 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.760 that assault well, ever, say that Kevin took any part whatsoever. 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:10.200 There's not one suggestion from witnesses, from the assailants, from police, 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.960 from anyone that we know of, that Kevin was involved 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:21.520 in any way in even verbally attacking Linda. Now we 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.040 told you a little bit about the assault and about 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:27.760 the women who were involved. Well, that night, after the 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:31.720 assault had occurred, Kevin says in his initial statement that 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.360 he went to the Crown with everyone else and they 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.679 all put in for alcohol, which Susan Aubrey purchased. He 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.399 claims in his initial statement that he came back and 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.680 Linda was gone. 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:51.080 The day after Linda was found, Kevin told police that 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.600 he had asked another Aboriginal man where Linda had gone to, 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.000 and that man had said she'd gone to the creek. 0:18:59.200 --> 0:18:59.800 The details in. 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.760 Statements changed three days later in another sitting with police, 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:05.840 but we'll go into that statement later. 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:08.520 Now. 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.960 In the last episode, we told you that the day 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.280 Linda was found, Kevin was picked up off the streets. 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:18.200 By police and put in the watchhouse basically for public drunkenness. 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:20.960 You would also realize that a lot of the people 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.680 involved in this story had been drinking. In fact, Januba 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.240 House was set up to provide alcohol and drug counseling 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.600 and other services. It was filling a large vacuum that 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:31.919 existed in Rockhampton. 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.320 There simply was not a lot of help for many 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.880 Aboriginal people who suffered from drug or alcohol addiction. It 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.359 was more likely to be criminalized, as illustrated by Kevin 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.040 being thrown in the watchhouse. It's also interesting to note 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.880 the year Linda died was the same year the Royal 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:53.480 Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was handed down, which 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.480 came down very heavily on criminalizing public drunkenness. There were 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.680 several cases investigated where average people have died in custody 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.400 after being picked up simply for being drunk in public. 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:06.919 In fact. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.080 In the same week Linda was found, a local Aboriginal group, 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:14.280 Gumby Gumby called an urgent public meeting between government departments, 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.560 police welfare groups, and local community representatives. It seems there 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.040 was obviously a real need pushed by the Aboriginal community 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:26.040 themselves for greater services for those who struggled with alcohol 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.159 and drug addiction. This was a theme played out in 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:32.240 the local media at the time, and following Kevin's conviction, 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:36.920 Channel seven ran this report which quoted local Aboriginal elder 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.760 Honey Judy Tattoo, who was then the coordinator of Tanuba House. 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:44.200 Basically, I think most of the people are used to me, 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:45.879 there are good people. 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:49.320 Honey duty Tatto is a respected elder in Rockhampden and 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.480 is now retired. She's only been retired for about three years, 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.199 but she's well known in rock Hampden for setting up 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:59.520 and helping run a lot of local Aboriginal organizations, including Tanuba. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.120 Told me this week on the phone from Rock Hampden 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:04.879 that Tanuba was seen as a safe place. 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.679 But the things about Tanuba was that it was like 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.360 a savory and I don't know if you can remember, 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:16.280 but they used to have ah it wasn't a fence, 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:20.240 but it was like, uh like, I was kind of 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.680 like offens but that was the satary and the police 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:28.840 never used to touch them inside that area. But you know, 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:32.240 the police wonder fine, and if somebody might run away 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.240 from the hospital and all that sort of stuff, they 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:36.400 just come down there and yeah, if they were there, 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:39.560 they'd taken back up to the hospital. 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:43.520 Any Judy said that Tanuba played a very critical role 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.879 for very vulnerable people who lived on the riverbank, but 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:50.240 it wasn't always a safe place because of the racism 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:51.560 in rock Hampden. 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:56.520 It wasn't always to say place for them, bigcause sometimes 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.959 uh gangs always suppose if you want to call them, 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.720 they'd come down sometimes within the night time and might 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:07.720 have some sticks or baseball bat. 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:09.320 Sticks and baseball bats. 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.960 Now, it was well known that non Aboriginal people would 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:17.320 come down to Tanuba House to terrorize the mob who 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:20.879 lived there. And remember that fact because the night before 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.600 Nundad died, there are actually reports of a group of 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.800 about eight white men who came down to Tanuba House 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:30.600 and we're yelling out derogatory statements and things to the 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.480 Aboriginal women there. So at that time, it was obviously 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:38.720 a regular occurrence that the Tanuba Mob were often victim 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:42.359 to a lot of racist incidents. Any Duty said the 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:46.040 Aboriginal people who stayed at Tanuba were even seen differently 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.040 than Aboriginal people around town. But in the end that 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:50.640 reputation was undeserved. 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:53.880 Well, I really think that it was an important place 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:58.280 for our mob, Yeah, the ones who really haven't had 0:22:58.320 --> 0:22:59.560 a good break. 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:00.480 In life sort of thing. 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.680 Yeah, And I mean there's lots of us out there. Yeah, 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:07.320