“Bad luck” NT court decision: white defendant, black victim
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The plight of the Aboriginal person in the Northern Territory legal system is truly awful. That goes not only for Aboriginal people facing criminal charges, but those who are victims of crime as well. A 53 year old white male, Shane Elward, was in Darwin Magistrates Court yesterday as a result of an incident last year in a car park when he hit an Aboriginal woman who was lying on the ground. He got out of the car and, apparently, after being told by a witness that the woman was drunk and would be okay, went into a nearby entertainment venue. Elward was drinking at the bar when another woman came into the club and requested help, because the women he struck was dying. The prosecution had planned to charge Elward with a range of serious charges, but withdrew them, and Magistrate Dick Wallace handed down a $400 fine for failing to drive with due care, but did not take Elward’s license. Wallace, according to media reports this morning, essentially said that it’s common in the Territory for drivers to run over Aboriginal people lying on the road or in car parks, because they are hard to see. “It’s clearly the case that an Aboriginal person in the dark on the bitumen or other places is extremely hard to see,” he said. “It’s easy to imagine how such an accident could happen,” Wallace said. The decision is troubling on a number of fronts. Firstly, the perception among some lawyers and human rights activists that the NT justice system is a “white person’s system” is reinforced by what appears to be lenient treatment of the defendant in this case. Even though the defendant is no doubt mortified by what happened, and had absolutely no intention of harming the victim, the reality is that this accident caused a death and the courts generally will impose a penalty that accords with that sad fact. A $400 fine is the sort of penalty one would get for a road accident in which no one was injured. Secondly, if an Aboriginal person ran over a white victim lying drunk on the ground, would the prosecutors’ and police have been prepared to agree to withdraw serious charges such as recklessly causing injury? Would a court describe it as simply “bad luck”, as was the case here? And what about the conduct of the witness who told the defendant that he did not have to stop and help the victim because she was drunk and would be okay? Does this not suggest that that the human life of Aboriginal Territorians is worth less than that of white people? Oh, and where are all the victims’ rights advocates this morning? Why aren’t they hitting the airwaves and the newspapers with outraged commentary about the leniency of the sentence in this case? Is it because the victim is an Aboriginal woman in the Northern Territory? You bet it is. How sad. |
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15 Comments
Well there are arguments on both sides. I am Aboriginal and I have nearly run over children in car parks who were hiding and running between cars. In one case I nearly ran over a two year old sitting behind my car? There is no way to see such a thing as a small child sitting directly behind a car, there are reports of parents running over their own children. A black person laying drunk on a roadway may in my opinion actually carry some contributory responsibility??
Racists? Us? Nooooo!
So a few days ago I saw on the TV News (I forget which station) that the NT incarceration rate comes third in the world after the U.S.A. and Saint Kitts & Nevis. Before you take me to task I fully realise the NT is not a nation, but if we were we’d come third. As I recall the rate for all Territorians is around 650 per 100,000 of population. The rate for Indigenous Territorians is considerably higher. Several Yuendumu young men are in gaol for such heinous crimes as not having a current driver’s licence or having two cans of beer in their car.
I’ve been a (non-indigenous) resident of Yuendumu for 35 years. My children grew up here, I love the place and despair at the Government propaganda that stereotypes all these communities as dysfunctional dens of iniquity. Its only since the Intervention that I’ve been breathalised and pulled over to be asked for my driver’s licence in Yuendumu. I drive an old car that looks similar to those generally driven by my Warlpiri friends.
It’s great to know that the children and women of Yuendumu are safe at last!
No Greg, it’s not because the victim was an Aboriginal woman in the Northern Territory. It is because anyone who has lived in the Territory for any time knows that, but for luck, it might have been them driving that car.
Most people who have lived there for any time either know someone who has hit a drunk lying in the middle of a main road, or have come very close to having hit one themselves. I myself had a near miss outside the old Nightcliff hotel on my way to work at night when the person stood up as my headlights hit him at 80km/h. I know personally a senior NT public servant who hit a drunk lying on a main road at night outside of Bagot Reserve. It is an unfortunate fact that, in and around Darwin and many other Territory towns, it is not unusual for drunks to be found wearing dark coloured clothing and taking a nap on a warm road surface.
Better street lighting and reinvigourating the 1970s road safety education campaign, “When walking along the road at night, wear or carry something white” will help a lot more than any attempt to link this issue to race.
I’m reminded of a tale told by a school mate many years ago in the early 90’s. He swore it was true. His dad was driving in the NT, was pulled over by a cop, cop walked up to the driver, did a double-take, and said “Oh, sorry mate, I thought you were black.” Mate’s dad drove away without being further questioned. The reason I believe the story was that my school was, particularly in respect of Aboriginal people, racist as and the story was not particularly told in the context of bleeding heart liberalism so much as a good one-liner.
Greg, if you think that’s sad you should go and have a look at the cases involving the charge : “A dangerous act causing death” on the NT Supreme Court homepage.
Greg, stop trying to beat up this story and turn it into an issue of race. Its the woman’s fault - she was lying on the road - it could have been anyone who could have driven over here. What punishment did you want the poor man to receive? Two or three years in jail? Don’t be ridiculous. This has nothing to do wit ha “white person’s system.” Yes, someone died but the only person who can be blamed for that is the person who was stupid enough to be lying on the road. If I go out and lie on the middle of the road right now and someone hits me (me being a white male) will you be there to call for the person who hits me to go to jail Greg? No, it will be my own stupid fault.
A couple of points; the car park in question was reported as ill lit,and it appears to me that the driver was pretty well blameless for the accident. The witness who said the victim was OK was an aboriginal who was with the woman. The only fault that I can see was the fact that the driver took the word of one, who was in all probability as drunk as the victim. He should most certainly have checked that the woman was in fact OK, that he did not is tantamount to “hit and run”.
I note the confected outrage and gormless apologies for the state of NT drivers and the drunks that, as I know well, do fall asleep on the roadway sometimes - but surely every driver has a duty to keep a proper lookout - at all times and places - and that the car-park was poorly lit should surely be no excuse whatsoever - I’m waiting for someone to appeal this poor decision…and just because a person is drunk should be no excuse - what if someone had just happened to collapse from some illness at the same spot? And surely, just because someone tells you that the person is “ok and drunk”, doesn’t relieve you of your duty to make sure of that fact for yourself?
That driver has a duty to keep a proper lookout? Obviously Bob, the problem is you dont usually expect there to be people lying on the road and when its poorly lit the only person who is to blame is the person stupid enough to lie on the road. Of course the man should have gone over to check, but if he’s been assured by the friend that the person is fine and he didnt run away then id say it was more a misjudgment then anything criminal
But Jacks, unfortunately there are many things (bits of cars, people, animals etc etc) that you wouldn’t usually expect to see lying around on the roadway - thats why there is such a strong onus on all drivers to keep a proper lookout - and forget the “poorly lit” excuse - whatever happened to headlights? And I might be wrong but I seem to recall that on the NT ABC News last night the comment that the woman was ok and just a “drunk” came from one of her, rather than the driver’s, friends. I still don’t see how that comment relieves anyone who has just run over a pedestrian (immobile or otherwise) of their obligations to check further on that person’s welfare. If that had happened this whole affair may have had different outcomes for both the driver and the unfortunate pedestrian.
Bob, the fact that the car park was poorly lit was not an excuse, nor that the victim was drunk. That’s why Elward was convicted for failing to drive with due care. But it seems from my reading of the reports, and my experience of living there, that the conduct did fall short of a dangerous act causing death because no jury in the NT would find beyond reasonable doubt that an ordinary person similarly circumstanced would not have done the same. Any group of 12 jurors will include someone who has either done it, come close to doing it, or knows someone who has done it.
I appreciate though that you also have distinguished the case from a race issue. Greg asks above “if an Aboriginal person ran over a white victim lying drunk on the ground, would the prosecutors’ and police have been prepared to agree to withdraw serious charges such as recklessly causing injury?” The answer is yes.
Back in the days when there were a lot of hitch hikers on our roads, you would quite often hear about one getting run over on a winter’s night. They would often lie on the road to get warm and then fall asleep. I don’t know if they were black or white, or even if they had been drinking or not, but nobody seemed to worry about it much.
Regarding the case of Mr Elward running over and killing the 48 year old woman October 2008 in the car park of the Buff Club: I feel concerned regarding a number of issues, firstly for example, the presiding Magistrate made a number of comments regarding the difficulty of perception regarding a dark person on a dark background - since the Magistrate Dick Wallace finds perception a significant contributing factor in this death, was Mr Elward’s eyesight tested for macular degeneration since the degenerative effects of aging on eyesight are famous for his age grouping (e.g., 53-year-old).
A second point of concern: why was Mr Elward not charged with leaving the scene of an accident between his vehicle and a human being? My understanding is drivers have a legal obligation to report to the relevant authorities e.g., the police any accidents causing injury to a human being by a motor vehicle. Why was Mr Elward not charged with leaving the scene of an accident?
A third issue of concern I feel is why was Mr Elward not charged with failing to render the necessities of life to a person his vehicle had struck?
A fourth issue of concern I feel is, why was Mr Elward’s car lighting not adequate for his driving?
A fifth issue of concern is why so many people are referring to anecdotal generalisations regarding this particular case - whilst it is very pleasant to have a chinwag I feel it is rather woolly thinking and we would be far better focussing on the specific and particular anomalies (at least five) about this case I have highlighted above.
Further since a number of people have alluded to the effects of ethnicity (by the pseudo scientific term of ‘race’) as having relevance to this case, I yet await the day when an accident between a person of light skin on a bright day is attributed to too much light in the vicinity.
For Greg Barns
re. your comment ’ … where are all the victims’ rights advocates …?’ FYI I have so far contacted 10 government or community bodies re. this case, including (1) Amnesty International International, (2) UN Human Rights Geneva, (3) UN Paris (4) John Hammond Legal, Perth (5) the Hon Delia Phoebe Lawrie MLAMinister for Justice and Attorney-General, Darwin N.T.
If you can think of anyone else who might be moved by (I quote one repondent) how “paltry” the penalty was for this lady’s death please let me know.
Up until today 17 July I have had no replies to my queries about the leniency of the charges brought to bear on Elward regarding the woman who he left after running her over. When people ask ‘where are the human rights advocates’ etc., or reproach ordinary citizens for not reacting to human rights abuses they may also reflect, exactly what recourses are open to us to try to seek redress for injustices in our society?
When people pass value judgements against the citizens of totalitarian societies, they may also reflect upon how difficult it is to question the unjust effects of such societies since it is all too evident how hard it is to query injustices in our own society.