Palm Island inquest reopens
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Any hopes that the community of Palm Island might have finally moved on from the 2004 death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee were dashed this morning after the Queensland Court of Appeal ruled that the 2006 findings of Queensland Acting State Coroner Christine Clements be set aside, and that the inquest into Mulrunji’s death be reopened. It sets the stage for yet another gut-wrenching chapter in a tragedy that has churned on for almost five years. The full bench of the Court of Appeal, a division of the Queensland Supreme Court, ruled that: “The whole of the finding of the Coroner as to how the deceased died … is set aside. “The inquest is to be reopened. The State Coroner is directed to appoint another Coroner, other than the Coroner below (Christine Clements) to re-examine the finding …” The dispute is centred on the October 2006 finding by Coroner Clements that the Officer-in-charge of the Palm Island Police Station, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, had repeatedly punched Mulrunji while he was lying on the floor of the police station, and that those punches caused fatal injuries to the victim. Lawyers for Hurley successfully argued that it was not open to the coroner on the evidence provided at the inquest to determine that the punches caused the death. “Undisputed medical evidence” provided to the inquest suggested that “severe compressive force” was needed to cause the fatal injuries, and that Hurley — despite his 200cm frame — could not have applied that sort of force merely from punching the victim. For his part, Hurley has always maintained he never even did that much. Right up until his trial for manslaughter, Hurley claimed that not only did he not repeatedly punch Mulrunji, but that the drunken Aboriginal man had simply tripped up a single step into the police station, and fallen onto a flat floor. Hurley claimed that he had fallen beside him. Of course, no-one has been able to explain to Palm Islanders how that might have caused an otherwise healthy 36-year-old man to sustain the sorts of injuries you’d expect to see in a plane crash victim. For Hurley, the issue is fundamentally about culpability if Coroner Clements’ findings stand, then he’s culpable for causing Mulrunji’s death while repeatedly punching him. But if the findings are that the death was caused by Hurley “accidentally” landing on Mulrunji as they both fell, culpability disappears. Waiting in the wings, is a civil action against Hurley by the Doomadgee family. It will hinge on the ultimate findings of the inquest. Queensland Police, and in particular the Queensland Police Union, will no doubt try and use this latest legal manoeuvre to strengthen their repeated claims that Snr Sgt Hurley is an innocent man caught out doing a difficult job in trying circumstances. But it’s no victory for Hurley, particularly when you note what’s not being disputed here. What’s not being contested is that Mulrunji Doomadgee, a man with no prior history with Palm island police, had simply chipped a black police liaison officer for assisting in the arrest of an Aboriginal person. He was warned to move on, and did so, but for reasons known only to Hurley, he decided to go and arrest Mulrunji anyway. Within an hour Mulrunji was dead. What’s not being contested is that the injuries inflicted on the deceased were staggering — Mulrunji’s liver was “almost cleaved in two”, his spleen had been ruptured, his portal vein was torn, four of his ribs were broken, and he suffered a number of abrasions to his scalp. What’s not being contested is that while Mulrunji lay dying in the watch house, writhing and screaming in pain, no-one came to his aide. He died on the floor of a police cell while another Aboriginal man (who has since taken his own life) tried to comfort and console him as he bled to death from massive internal injuries. What’s not being contested is that Hurley didn’t even have the courage to tell the family their husband, father, son was deceased — when they arrived at the police station later in the day to visit, Hurley told them that he was too busy to let them see the Mulrinji, and to come back later. What’s not being contested is that three days before the resumption of the inquest in 2006, Mulrunji’s son Eric hung himself from a tree on Palm Island. What’s not being contested is that Queensland Police conducted a woeful police investigation into the death; that Hurley drank beers with investigating police (including an officer from the Ethical Standards Command, there to ensure everything was “above board”) only a few hours after the death; that police neglected to mention to the pathologist conducting the autopsy that there was an allegation of assault of Mulrunji by Hurley from an Aboriginal witness in the watch house at the time; that Hurley had run over an Aboriginal woman in a police vehicle six months earlier; that the only people ever punished after the death in custody have been Aboriginal people, with dozens jailed over the uprising that followed Mulrunji’s death. What’s not being contested is that numerous Aboriginal people were tasered during the arrests following the uprising, while police including at least one of those accused of engaging in a cover-up of the death were awarded bravery medals for their service on Palm during the uprising. The extent of their injuries was a bruised hip. What’s not being contested is that Chris Hurley successfully obtained a $100,000 ex-gratia payment from Queensland Police to compensate him for his losses in the uprising. What’s not being contested is that he was also allowed to take leave with full pay for months while awaiting trial for manslaughter (he was acquitted). He has since been moved to the Gold Coast and the last I heard was serving as an Acting Inspector (a promotion in rank). And ultimately, of course, what’s not being contested is that Chris Hurley killed Mulrunji. What we all want to know is how he did it. |
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20 Comments
We have apartheid in Australia, I enjoyed reading you compilation of information it refreshed me of what we all have witnessed. I consider the ex gratia payment to be hush money, I hope to god the surviving family members wont cop it sweet. People have died and continue to die wrongful deaths because of race bias. Only last night Four Corners reported on a tragedy where a man was cooked to death in the back of a police van in searing desert heart while being transported. It often seems that working for Australian government requires one to abandon their humanity.
Living in Victoria and seeing little of northern Australian aborigines it hard to get to the truth of contestable matters.
I have just one quibble with the article. Why is it a criticism of the Queensland Police that someone from the Ethical Standards Command had a drink with him? Isn’t that exactly what you would do if you actually wanted to learn what Hurley might say in an unguarded moment, given that, like all experienced police, he would be pretty good at keeping up a defensive shield of deceptive or meaningless words if he wanted to?
It hardly helps for Edward James to say “We have apartheid in Australia”. Apart from it being unclear what that is meant to imply, it is, in the ordinary established usage of “apartheid” completely wrong. Unless he means that many aboriginals for good or bad reasons and under some social or economic compulsion, but no legal compulsion, choose to live in communities separate from white people. So what, in the present context? And the “ex gratia payment..[as]..hush money”??? It was paid to Hurley, so are we to believe that Edward James believes that the Queensland Police bribed one of their number not to confess to homicide when he alone could be regarded as having committed a serious crime?
I’m going to presume that Herod was not seriously asking me to explain why it would be inappropriate for a member of the Ethical Standards Command, sent to Palm island to ensure that the investigation into a death in custody is transparent, drinks beer with the man accused of the killing a matter of hours after the death. And with the detectives sent to investigate it. I’m presuming it’s a joke because, quite frankly, in my 20 years of journalism, I can’t think of a more stupid question.
As to the remainder of his comments, in particular the comments about ex-gratia payments, I’ll refer Herod to his own first paragraph: “Living in Victoria and seeing little of northern Australian aborigines it hard to get to the truth of contestable matters.”
You really should do you homework before posting bone-stupid comments. At least you had the good sense t remain anonymous.
Anyone wishing to get a half decent handle on the whole Mulrunji incident would do well to obtain a copy of Chloe Hooper’s “The Tall Man” (Penguin 2008). Ms Hooper did a thoroughly professional job - one of the few in any of the professions connected to this tragedy, maintaining an even-handed approach and avoiding all the usual pitfalls.
Chris,
It does set “the stage for yet another gut-wrenching chapter in a tragedy that has churned on for almost five years”.
But it is a bit rich to state:
“Hurley claimed that he had fallen beside him.
Of course, no-one has been able to explain to Palm Islanders how that might have caused an otherwise healthy 36-year-old man to sustain the sorts of injuries you’d expect to see in a plane crash victim.”
Hurley accepted by the time of the coronial hearing that he must not have fallen beside Mulrunji. Although that was his initial theory it is a long time since he has put it forward. Further, all medical experts from the time of the Coronial hearing accepted that if Hurley fell on him in the right way it could cause the injuries. This was consistent with their order of falling, Hurley’s weight, the drop from a stair, the concrete floor providing a firm support for Mulrunji, Hurley’s lack of recollection that he landed on top, the evidence of the police witness who said it looked like Hurley fell on top.
“What’s not being contested is that while Mulrunji lay dying in the watch house, writhing and screaming in pain, no-one came to his aide. He died on the floor of a police cell while another Aboriginal man (who has since taken his own life) tried to comfort and console him as he bled to death from massive internal injuries.”
In the context that he was heavily intoxicated and unless Hurley had deliberately injured him he had no reason to consider that he was in pain. It would not be unreasonable or callous to assume that a healthy reasonably young man who put up quite a struggle didn’t really need help if he yelled out while drunk. It only becomes callous if you assume Hurley was aware that he was fatally injured. That appears inconsistent with the facts.
“What’s not being contested is that three days before the resumption of the inquest in 2006, Mulrunji’s son Eric hung himself from a tree on Palm Island.”
After expressing the belief that Hurley had deliberately killed his father and got away with it. Now where did he get that view from?
“What’s not being contested is that Queensland Police conducted a woeful police investigation into the death; that Hurley drank beers with investigating police (including an officer from the Ethical Standards Command, there to ensure everything was “above board”) only a few hours after the death; that police neglected to mention to the pathologist conducting the autopsy that there was an allegation of assault of Mulrunji by Hurley from an Aboriginal witness in the watch house at the time; that Hurley had run over an Aboriginal woman in a police vehicle six months earlier; that the only people ever punished after the death in custody have been Aboriginal people, with dozens jailed over the uprising that followed Mulrunji’s death.”
So they didn’t promptly replace the original officers when it was realized that they were friends of Hurley and didn’t properly investigate? So there wasn’t a second autopsy when it was discovered that the police had improperly failed to mention that? That is how it sounds when you put it that way.
“And ultimately, of course, what’s not being contested is that Chris Hurley killed Mulrunji.”
Of course as you said there are two distinct possibilities which relate to culpability.
“What we all want to know is how he did it.”
That implies deliberation. I’d suggest that that is inconsistent with the evidence.
Even if we accept (after a new coronial inquest) that Chris Hurley did not actually cause the injuries and ultimately the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee where was Chris Hurley’s professional duty of care to Mr Doomadgee? Even if Chris Hurley was not ultimately responsible for Mr Doomadgee’s death why didn’t he call for proper medical assistance for Mr Doomadgee? Notwithstanding the fact that Palm Island is in a remote part of Queensland with limited medical services, I will assume that a Dr or nurse could have been called and may have attended the police station had they received an emergency call.
Why didn’t he simply physically check on Mr Doomadgee every ten to fifteen minutes as is the required protocal for all prisoners in custody. Further if he completed these checks and failed to organise assistance to another human let alone someone who he owes a duty of care to, Chris Hurley is quilty of something. On the other hand if he threw Mr Doomadgee into the cell without making any further checks on him, again he has failed in his duty of care to a person in his custody.
The 1989 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody made a number of recommendations following an inquiry into the deaths of 99 Aboriginals in custody. It would appear from Mr Doomadgee’s death that all the recommendations from that inquiry were followed or implemented. It is shameful that another aborignal man died in custody for minor offences. It is shameful that his death may have ultimately been prevented. It is shameful still, that members of the Queensland Police Union & Queensland Police Service stand in silence about a member who clearly failed in his duty to his office, badge and uniform.
Please, Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss Moderator let us know what Maverick said that was worse than Chris Graham’s “can’t think of a more stupid question” and “You really should do you [sic] homework before posting bone-stupid comments”. (And it really would help to know what your standards are). Were you so preoccupied with bowdlerising that you failed to notice that Chris Graham was replying to Herod and not to Edward James? FWIW I often start reading Graham and find him so undisciplined in a schoolboy magazine editor kind of way that I tell myself to stop wasting time. Can’t you see if this journo is still teachable (anything) after his claimed 20 years of hackery?
As a non-indigenous woman living in NSW, I’m appalled, almost beyond words at this latest travesty. “Herod” you may ask this question; if what happened at Palm Island had happened in a reverse racial situation, what do you think the outcome would’ve been? If you have to spend any time pondering over this question, and your answer, then you have no idea what’s been happening in this country. Not just in relation to this horrific tragedy, but for the last 200+ years?
I stongly suggest you start a campaign to do some serious reading. You could start with the Black Deaths in Custody report, followed by the Bringing Them Home Report. Watch last night’s 4 Corners program; go on to that web site and listen to the extended interviews; download and read the reports, and then, if you still haven’t reached the decision, that an aboriginal person’s death is nowhere near as valuable or sad as a non-aboriginal person, then I’ll throw up my hands and walk away. You’re a lost cause mate!
I hope the family of this young aboriginal man stay strong. I hope they keep on fighting for justice, and I wish them and their family and legal team the very best. I feel ashamed!
LIZ45: If you are paying attention, don’t you think it is a reasonable prerequisite to taking up other people’s time with your opinions that you read what someone wrote before you comment on it? I have just checked what Herod had to say and I can’t find a single word that suggests what view Herod has about Hurley’s conduct or that the Queensland Police didn’t stuff up or corrupt their investigation, or that Aborigines are not treated as human beings who are equally valuable (with those of other ethnicities) by many Australians including police. And after showing that you don’t read what others say (as Herod obviously does: see his comments on Edward James’s comment) you go all self-righteous and presume to tell others to read the Black Deaths in Custody Report and to watch last night’s 4 Corners program. As one who has and been revoleted by the studidity, carelessness and casual malice portrayed in the latter I wonder whether you are aware that what became clear from the Deaths in Custody inquiry when the dust settled a bit is that the suicides in custody wasn’t a specifically Aboriginal problem, and, to the extent that it was a result of police neglect they were equal opportunity offenders. What, BTW, do you mean by “this latest travesty”? Do you mean the fact that the Queensland Supreme Court arrived at the judgment that it did (as in the clichéd “travesty of justice” which would suggest you are a learned and passionate lawyer)? Or are you applying it to the misfortune that a whole lot of people will have to go over yet again, some very painful events, which might just, by a stretch, be described as a “travesty” in the sense of “farce”: but a commentary on the human condition rather than either satirical comedy or system failure, and so a cause for sadness rather than indignation.
Guess this wasn’t one of those times, eh Kalashinkov?
Is there room for a dissenter?
I wasn’t there, nor were you.
I don’t rely on the press or families for full information. As cynical as that is, nor should you.
I do know that any time “the law” prosecutes someone, they become persecutors by the mere fact they are doing their sworn duty. So, given my second line, who’ll give Sgt Hurley his right to be heard - or do you only have inclination to persecute those who have to prosecute?
He did it by using the soldered views of a police minister and police commissioner that black people have a ‘station in life’. It’s Queensland - another state in Australia where political parties make their own arrangements on whether to deliver human rights.
I think that you Chris Graham are inviting me, in an elliptical way, to agree with the view that what Hurley and hiscolleagues did and/or allowed to happen was materially influenced by the fact that the victim was an Aborigine, and, perhaps, that, if by chance a white man had been arrested on Palm Island in similar circumstances things would have turned out differently and much better. That seems very likely although in the southern states one could look at serious brutality by the police and conclude that it was influenced by class with ethnicity being largely irrelevant. So, now that you have calmed down a bit why don’t you review your belligerence (unless you want to be a mature recruit to the Queensland Police) and ask as I would ask yourself, as I would certainly ask a rude 16 year old, if you actually want to be persuasive or prefer simply to stir your adrenalin and give your aggression a day out.
I support the comments drafted by Willow and believe the rest of you should be ashamed of yourself.
It has been found on more than one occasion by virtue of the process of justice throughout the police investigation, the subsequent DPP review and the later finding of innocent, that Hurley was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. It would appear he in no way contributed to the injury nor could he avoid it.
As a member of the community who has previously lived on Palm Island and know the Doomadgee family I in no way feel hard done by and have full and complete faith in the judicial process and the Queensland Police. I can also tell you that the silent majority of Palm islanders also support the above and its only the vocal minority who are being quoted. What was initially a one sided reporting campaign in the media I believe has tainted you all, this is apparent through your uninformed and naive comments detailed above. I don’t know Hurley nor have I ever met him, I have however become aware of the stellar job he performed whilst employed in remote communities and as the officer in charge of Palm Island.
I suggest you cut the man a break, focus on the facts, not innuendo and half truths and see the larger picture, there is no cover up, the government has not paid any ‘hush money’ as described and inferred by some of you. As someone who was once associated with the Palm island community I am ashamed at how so many of you are painting us as a victim, that’s just not the case.
Shortly after Mr. Mulrunji’s death and the Palm island riots. There was another death in when a aboriginal man was refused entry to a hospital up in Northern Queensland, because he appeared drunk and agitated. I understand he was drunk, he had been partying, as for his agitation that was because he was stressing over the perilous condition of the ill woman in the back of his station wagon. He had driven some distance to get her to medical help. He was prevented from getting the attention this woman needed because his drunken attempts to get assistance from the other side of locked glass hospital doors were ignored, because he was drunk and becoming more agitated. This man believed that the woman lying in the back of the station wagon was extremely ill and possibly dying. The doors remained barred to him and the woman died. When I use the word South african expression apartheid I mean apart and I mean that type of apart which is discriminatory out side the law. I believe Australias first peoples are still living with arpartheid. I write with my own personal observations of the sort of discrimination which can cost lives! As for the ex gratia hush money I perceive that payment to be exactly that. I understand how the abuse of power happens. And I believe Mulrunji’s death was the direct result of an abuse of power. An abuse which was more likley to happen to a member of a subjugated minority.
Edward James makes it clear that Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty is his model for use of the language, as in
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’
But I am with Alice when EJ says “When I use the word South african expression apartheid I mean apart and I mean that type of apart which is discriminatory out side the law. ” It doesn’t help me to understand what he is saying when he uses his own private dictionary. However, I am still hoping for elucidation of “As for the ex gratia hush money I perceive that payment to be exactly that.” Now we know what your perceptions are, but that is about you. What about the question of who is being made to keep silent about what? Remember that it was Hurley who seems to have landed on the victim and Hurley who received the payment. Just what was he being bribed to stay silent about? Have you, EJ, got some other interesting things going on in your head that you haven’t told us about? Some inside story of what really happened in the lead up to the death or in the investigation? Something that makes sense?
I have probably missed the boat, but I would like to put in my two bob’s worth. I can say that I have come across Aboriginal people who claim to have been harassed in a fairly severe way by police. I can say that from a medical point of view the injuries as described would have been obvious to anybody (I feel like adding “with half a brain” but perhaps that isn’t polite).
Now I think that anyone who can ignore someone who is dying is probably of the same character as the person who has caused the death. It’s really the same thing, except one is active the other passive.
So, to me at least, whatever the outcome of a trial, the man is more likely to be guilty than not.
Jon Hunt,
You typed:
“I can say that from a medical point of view the injuries as described would have been obvious to anybody (I feel like adding “with half a brain” but perhaps that isn’t polite).”
I am sure that a medical examination could have resolved the problem. However the circumstances were that within a short space of time Mulrunji was taken out of the police van, he punched Hurley in the head, they struggled and fell into the watchhouse and Mulrunji lay there with only a small abrasion.
Visible injuries
“The only external sign of injury was a small oval abrasion in the centre of the right eyebrow
measuring 0.4 centimetres by 0.2 centimetres which was bleeding slightly.”
Behaviour to indicate liver injury
In many circumstances someone going completely limp might raise concern. However this was an apparently healthy youngish person who had put up quite a struggle. If he was injured in the fall there is a more obvious inference Hurley would have made in those circumstances. In a police interview prior to realising that he had fallen on top of Mulrunji:
“Hurley explained that as Mulrunji was lying there on the floor of the police station he thought he was playing the fool, which happened quite a lot, then:-
“… you’ve got to drag ‘em or carry them into the watch house.”
The inference is that it was after the fall that Mulrunji stopped resisting.”
Unless you assume Hurley somehow managed to somehow deliberately inflict the fatal injury wouldn’t you have made the same inference in those circumstances?
Your subsequent comments implying callousness rely upon an awareness of the fatal injury. But is it reasonable to assume Hurley was aware in the circumstances?
on the 17th June i posted an extensive reply to this thread. It complied with all posting conditions and was in no way inappropriate. Why wasn’t it posted after moderation?
Reaso,
I only just noticed your post - apologies for the delay in replying.
Your facts, I’m afraid, are way off (and highly selective).
1. Hurley did not come to accept that he had fallen on Mulrunji by the time of the coronial inquest. He accepted it after he’d been charged - and tried - for manslaughter. Every time this man takes the stand, his evidence changes.
2. Hurley had a duty of care to Mulrunji. Are you suggesting that somehow he met it, or only barely failed, by just a little bit? The man is dead FFS. Read the coronial inquest transcript. Check your facts. Mulrunji’s screams were heard outside the police station. They were heard inside the police station as well. But the CCTV shows that Hurley and his officers ignored the cries. And then, when Hurley realized Mulrunji was in serious trouble, he simply called an ambulance, and made no attempt at CPR. Like I said, read the facts.
3. Re the Eric Doomadgee comment, what a mean-spirited bit of work you are. How would you feel if it was your father? The point of that comment in my article was to highlight the cost to Mulrunji’s family, and to Palm and Aboriginal people generally. That you’ve completely misunderstood it I think speaks some volumes.
4. The rest of your comments are supposition and twisted spin.
My question to you Reason is why the anonymity? I think I already know the answer… but why do people like you NEVER have the courage of your convictions?