Speaker 1: Just before nine o'clock last night, the jury returned guilty
Speaker 1: verdicts against all three defendants.
Speaker 2: It was absolute shambles, to tell you the truth, just
Speaker 2: absolutely really heading.
Speaker 1: Blood on his clothing the day after the alleged a
Speaker 1: top a shallow mud bank and it fits through a river.
Speaker 2: Basically, I think most of the people are used to
Speaker 2: me are good people.
Speaker 1: I think a really important question we need to ask
Speaker 1: is how many Indigenous prisoners in Australia are innocent.
Speaker 2: This is Curtain, a podcast where we pull back the
Speaker 2: blinds to shine a light on the darkest parts of
Speaker 2: our justice system and ask who are the victims.
Speaker 1: I'm Amy Maguire and I'm Martin Hodgson, a senior advocate
Speaker 1: for the Foreign Prisoner Support Service. And a warning this
Speaker 1: series contains the names of deceased peoples and has distressing
Speaker 1: content that might upset some listeners.
Speaker 2: Welcome to episode fifty three of Curtain the podcast. This week,
Speaker 2: before I talk about any updates to the case of
Speaker 2: Kevin Henry and the ongoing issues we're fighting on, behalf
Speaker 2: of Kevin that you've heard about throughout this podcast, I
Speaker 2: want to spend the first half talking about a number
Speaker 2: of issues that have come up in the last week
Speaker 2: in regards to First Nations people and the law in Australia,
Speaker 2: particularly dealings with the police. Remember these are just three
Speaker 2: issues that have come up in the last week. This
Speaker 2: is twenty eighteen. And yet imagine what was happening in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one in Queensland, not in a city, in
Speaker 2: a rural regional area, just after the Fitzgerald inquiry. And
Speaker 2: keep that in mind as you hear about what's been
Speaker 2: going on around the country just this week. Earlier this
Speaker 2: week we learnt about the trouble facing the cousin of
Speaker 2: Miss Jew. As you'll remember, Miss Jew tragically died in
Speaker 2: Western Australia after being locked up for unpaid fines and
Speaker 2: being treated despicably by both the police and the health services.
Speaker 2: She was left to die in excruciating pain. She was
Speaker 2: dragged and pulled around by her arms and legs, and
Speaker 2: the fact there's never been criminal charges laid in her
Speaker 2: death is an utter disgrace. Despite that, the Western Australian
Speaker 2: government has been forced to pay more than a million
Speaker 2: dollars to her family in compensation, but that's never enough
Speaker 2: to bring her back and undo the damage that they've
Speaker 2: done to the jew family and those from her extended
Speaker 2: family and her loved ones. This week we learn that
Speaker 2: her cousin is also facing imprisonment for unpaid fines. Her cousin,
Speaker 2: also living in WA, is a qualified youth worker and
Speaker 2: has been working at the Banksier Hill Youth Detention Center
Speaker 2: as a liaison officer. And as you've heard in this podcast,
Speaker 2: Banksier Hill is a place where it's almost exclusively Indigenous
Speaker 2: prisoners and where the young people suffering almost exclusively have
Speaker 2: a significant number of brain injuries. And you can go
Speaker 2: back to the podcast and I'll link to that where
Speaker 2: you can hear the scientific evidence from the medical journals
Speaker 2: that examined these children about the significant issues they faced.
Speaker 2: And so Misdew's cousin is doing very important work with
Speaker 2: these young people to get them back on track and
Speaker 2: help them with the care they need, because quite frankly,
Speaker 2: they shouldn't be in detention. Sadly, her contract was not
Speaker 2: continued at Banksier Hill, so taking due diligence, she notified
Speaker 2: center link of the payments that she was no longer
Speaker 2: going to be receiving as an employed person. She made
Speaker 2: all the right notifications and then on Monday this week,
Speaker 2: she received a new job offer and so very quickly
Speaker 2: got back on the phone to center Link to update
Speaker 2: her information and her details. As she tried to explain
Speaker 2: to the Centrelink officer about her situation, the finishing of
Speaker 2: one contract, the fact that she'd advised and a Link
Speaker 2: that that had finished and now that she'd received a
Speaker 2: new job, she was stopped in her tracks and she
Speaker 2: was told that and I quote, I need to let
Speaker 2: you know that we cannot do you any more favors.
Speaker 2: We have a warrant out for your arrest and we
Speaker 2: cannot give you any other option other than to go
Speaker 2: to jail and serve your time or pay three thousand,
Speaker 2: seven hundred and forty four dollars. Now, I also want
Speaker 2: to add that Misdew's cousin is a mother, and now
Speaker 2: she is facing the very real prospect of being sent
Speaker 2: to prison the place where her own cousin died for
Speaker 2: the same absurd and ridiculous reason of unpaid fines find
Speaker 2: she is trying to pay off FIND. She was in
Speaker 2: the process in that phone conversation of trying to discuss
Speaker 2: this is a working woman, a working mother, a working
Speaker 2: mother who is assisting Aboriginal children who, as medical professionals
Speaker 2: have said, need the highest of care, and yet despite
Speaker 2: what the State of Queensland have done to the family,
Speaker 2: they're seeking to do it again. Imagine the fear that
Speaker 2: the family are facing this week. There's also a gofund
Speaker 2: me page and you'll find that on Curtain Podcast's Twitter
Speaker 2: page where you can support the family to help them
Speaker 2: avoid these tragic circumstances playing out again. But quite clearly,
Speaker 2: the WA government's practice of jailing people for small findes
Speaker 2: not relating to criminal matters is killing Aboriginal people and
Speaker 2: it has to stop. This is absurd and it wouldn't
Speaker 2: be allowed to be accepted for anyone else in this country.
Speaker 2: Also this week, and also in WA, a senior sergeant
Speaker 2: has been stood down after an incident in which a
Speaker 2: teenager was run down by a police vehicle in the
Speaker 2: Perth suburb of Thornley on Sunday afternoon. Now it might
Speaker 2: sound like it must be serious for a senior sergeant
Speaker 2: to be stood down, but based on what occurred, this
Speaker 2: sergeant should have lost his job and should be facing
Speaker 2: criminal charges. Two lots of footage have emerged of an
Speaker 2: unmarked police car swerving across the road and deliberately striking
Speaker 2: an eighteen year old Aboriginal man and knocking him to
Speaker 2: the ground where he had a seizure on the ground.
Speaker 2: He was then restrained and placed in handcuffs while he
Speaker 2: was having the seizure. The footage is shocking and confronting.
Speaker 2: The young man was taken to found A Stanley hospital
Speaker 2: for treatment and we believe he is doing better, but
Speaker 2: we can't be sure of his condition at this stage
Speaker 2: and it's impossible to know what the long term consequences
Speaker 2: for his health could be. This is a young man
Speaker 2: of just eighteen years old, really just a boy, and
Speaker 2: a police officer has used a vehicle like a deadly
Speaker 2: weapon to deliberately strike this young man. Again. We will
Speaker 2: show the footage on our Twitter page Curtain Podcast, and
Speaker 2: we'll post it to our Facebook page as well. There
Speaker 2: is now footage from multiple bystanders who captured the full event,
Speaker 2: and the footage is from two angles and you will
Speaker 2: clearly see the young man walking with his back turned,
Speaker 2: the vehicle accelerating towards him, swerving and deliberately striking him
Speaker 2: to knock him onto the road. The West Australian Government
Speaker 2: has only stood this police officer down. This is not
Speaker 2: some young constable. This is a senior sergeant, a person
Speaker 2: of high rank in charge of many other officers. If
Speaker 2: this is the example they set, imagine what else they're
Speaker 2: doing to Aboriginal people that, in broad daylight on a
Speaker 2: Sunday afternoon, with cars and pedestrians around, this officer had
Speaker 2: no compunction about swerving towards and striking a child. This
Speaker 2: is despicable action and criminal charges should be laid. Before
Speaker 2: I move on to the next story, I want you
Speaker 2: to remember about Rockhampton in nineteen ninety one when police
Speaker 2: were rounding up Aboriginal people like they were cattle over
Speaker 2: the murder of Linda. And we know these people they
Speaker 2: were chasing, many of whom had absolutely nothing to do
Speaker 2: with what had happened, and yet they too were treated
Speaker 2: in this way, abused, beaten and threatened, just like Kevin
Speaker 2: Henry was. And these are stories we've heard from many
Speaker 2: other people Aboriginal people from Rockhampton at the time. And
Speaker 2: if you can't believe it, all you have to do
Speaker 2: is watch the footage twenty eighteen Western Australia Broad Daylight
Speaker 2: and a senior sergeant is willing to simply run down
Speaker 2: an individual, an eighteen year old boy. That should leave
Speaker 2: you with no doubt and no doubt as to the
Speaker 2: fear that all those who were questioned in relation to
Speaker 2: the death of Linda were experiencing when they were taken
Speaker 2: without lawyers to the watchhouse in Rockhampton, a place we
Speaker 2: know at the time was overcrowded and where debts in
Speaker 2: custody had taken place, A place where, as we've revealed before,
Speaker 2: corrupt police were allowing a criminal, a known abuser and
Speaker 2: drug trafficker, to store his possessions in a locker so
Speaker 2: that he could leave prison on the weekends to go
Speaker 2: out to nightclubs. Again, you can hear about that more
Speaker 2: in a full episode on that issue in Curtain the podcast.
Speaker 2: Also this week comes a decision about what happened on
Speaker 2: Palm Island all those years ago. As you remember, Moronji
Speaker 2: was killed by a police officer, although that would never
Speaker 2: be accepted by the police. On parm Island, more than
Speaker 2: a decade ago, a supposed riot broke out, but I
Speaker 2: don't think you can call it a riot when a
Speaker 2: community was standing up in fear to protect their loved ones,
Speaker 2: their family, their little ones after one of their own
Speaker 2: family members had been so violently assaulted by police his
Speaker 2: liver had split in two. What were they supposed to do,
Speaker 2: simply stand there and let another person be killed. Remember,
Speaker 2: no officer went to jail over Mulrunji's death. However, Lex
Speaker 2: Wotton went to prison for protecting his community. And in
Speaker 2: addition to him going to prison, he was also silenced
Speaker 2: upon release and not able to tell his story for
Speaker 2: a number of years. Now, why would they do that
Speaker 2: unless the police were clearly in the rle Well, this
Speaker 2: week a federal court has found that the police were
Speaker 2: in the wrong and breached the Racial Discrimination Act. We
Speaker 2: should not be surprised that Queensland police were acting in
Speaker 2: a racial manner when they attacked Mulrunji and arrested and
Speaker 2: beat many of the people involved in the uprising to
Speaker 2: protect their community. The Police union, of course, are throwing
Speaker 2: what can only be described as a tantrum over the
Speaker 2: findings of the federal court. These are law enforcement officers
Speaker 2: who now will not accept the findings of a court.
Speaker 2: A federal court, no doubt that found quite clearly they
Speaker 2: were in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act. Now there's
Speaker 2: already been some money paid out previously as to police
Speaker 2: actions over the Palm Island incident, the treatment of Lex
Speaker 2: Wotten and much more. But here we have again the
Speaker 2: police being found in the wrong. This time the payment
Speaker 2: is for thirty million dollars a settlement that was reached
Speaker 2: with the Palm Island community and the Queensland Government. It's
Speaker 2: quite clear that if that settlement had not been reached
Speaker 2: and things had dragged on longer, that the Palm Island
Speaker 2: community would have won more money. Thirty million dollars shows
Speaker 2: you just how repulsive, repugnant and criminal the actions of
Speaker 2: the Queensland Police Service were in the killing of Mulrunji
Speaker 2: and the treatment of the Palm Island community after that
Speaker 2: horrific and tragic event. With heard from many people in
Speaker 2: Queensland who feel that the Queensland Government should not pay
Speaker 2: this amount of money. Once again we see Indigenous people,
Speaker 2: First Nations people treated as less than anyone else, just
Speaker 2: the way Kevin Henry has been for more than twenty years,
Speaker 2: Just the way Linda was by the same Queensland Police
Speaker 2: Service who didn't care to solve the crime, who didn't
Speaker 2: care to deliver justice for Linda and justice for her
Speaker 2: family and deliver closure for all those involved. In their
Speaker 2: own words, as they said to a solicitor, all they
Speaker 2: wanted was a black for a black. As we continue
Speaker 2: in the coming weeks, we'll finally be able to reveal
Speaker 2: more about Kevin Henry's case and what is going on
Speaker 2: at the moment and why amy has been a way
Speaker 2: for a number of weeks. But just remember this is
Speaker 2: what's happened just this week, the cousin of Miss dw
Speaker 2: facing imprisonment just like her murdered cousin in a West
Speaker 2: Australian cell for unpaid fines, an absurd state of affairs,
Speaker 2: criminal targeting of Aboriginal people. You've also heard in Western
Speaker 2: Australia how a senior sergeant, in broad daylight, in front
Speaker 2: of pedestrians and motorists deliberately struck a young man, knocking
Speaker 2: him to the ground and causing him to have seizures
Speaker 2: and then placing him in handcuffs. And finally you've heard
Speaker 2: that this week again, a federal court has found the
Speaker 2: Queensland Police Service, the Queensland Police Service that imprisoned Kevin Henry,
Speaker 2: the Queensland Police Service responsible for so many debts in
Speaker 2: custody the Queensland Police Service that failed to catch Linda's
Speaker 2: real killer. The Queensland Police Service that was subject to
Speaker 2: the Fitzgerald inquiry that saw officers and the commissioner go
Speaker 2: to prison for their actions, has been found to be
Speaker 2: in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act that tells you
Speaker 2: everything about the way they see Aboriginal people, and the
Speaker 2: Queensland Government as a result, are being forced to hand
Speaker 2: over thirty million dollars to the people of Palm Island,
Speaker 2: and so they should. For those who say they don't
Speaker 2: want their tax dollars to be used this way. Your
Speaker 2: beef is not with the Aboriginal community. It is not
Speaker 2: with the people of Palm Island. It should be with
Speaker 2: the Queensland Police Service who continue to commit these criminal acts.
Speaker 2: If the Queensland Police Service did their job, this money
Speaker 2: would not be needed to be paid out, the people
Speaker 2: of Palm Island would not have been put through what
Speaker 2: they have been for so long, and Mulrunji would still
Speaker 2: be alive. So if you want to write with anger,
Speaker 2: write with passion and call for political change, don't target
Speaker 2: the people of Palm Island. Don't target the jew family,
Speaker 2: don't target a young man simply walking down the street,
Speaker 2: Focus on the police services that continue to commit these crimes,
Speaker 2: and call on your politicians to make the changes, to
Speaker 2: start sacking each and every officer all the way to
Speaker 2: the top until this behavior changes. We cannot have in
Speaker 2: one week a young man being struck down and nearly
Speaker 2: killed by police, a young mother, a qualified and working
Speaker 2: youth worker, being threatened with imprisonment for unpaid fines in
Speaker 2: a place where her own cousin died. And we should
Speaker 2: not have a community still in trauma and grief over
Speaker 2: what was done to them more than a decade ago,
Speaker 2: only now finally getting some justice. All of this not
Speaker 2: because of the actions of Aboriginal and torrestrate Islander people,
Speaker 2: but because of the actions of the police service, the
Speaker 2: very people you've heard in this podcast who pressured Kevin
Speaker 2: Henry into confessing to a crime he did not commit.
Speaker 2: His innocence, he has maintained throughout and has always denied,
Speaker 2: that he gave that confession voluntarily, something agreed to by
Speaker 2: the judge at his trial, and why he should be
Speaker 2: released immediately that was curtin the podcast. Please consider going
Speaker 2: to our Facebook page Curtain the Podcast. We also have
Speaker 2: a Twitter account and a website www. Dot curtinthepodcast dot com,
Speaker 2: and you can also support our work in uncovering all
Speaker 2: these issues and bringing justice for Kevin and Linda and
Speaker 2: continuing to work behind the scenes on what's happening with
Speaker 2: police and Aboriginal people by going to our Patreon account,
Speaker 2: which you can find at our website, facebook page, and Twitter.
Speaker 2: From as little as a dollar a month, you can
Speaker 2: support our work. Thank you.