Australia: Police officer faces charges for killing Aboriginal prisoner

Last December, the state’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to prosecute Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley for the death of Mulrunji Doomagee, 36, in a police cell on Palm Island, a notorious former penal camp for indigenous people.

Labor premier Peter Beattie originally defended the decision by DPP Leanne Clare and the accompanying announcement by his government’s Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) that no police officer would even face disciplinary charges over the killing and subsequent police cover-up.

In making her finding, Clare rejected, without explanation, a detailed report by Acting State Coroner Christine Clements. Clements had carefully reviewed the medical evidence and eye-witness accounts, and then concluded that Hurley bashed Doomagee, causing four broken ribs and a torn liver, and “callously” left him to die, ignoring his cries for help.

Clements specifically accepted the evidence of an Aboriginal witness, Roy Bramwell, that Hurley repeatedly punched Doomagee while he lay prostrate on the floor. The coroner further ruled that Mulrunji’s arrest for “public nuisance” was “completely unjustified”. Moreover, the initial police investigation of the death—conducted by personal friends of Hurley—was “reprehensive”.

In fact, Hurley picked up the police investigators at the airport and took them home for a meal. The Queensland police are so accustomed to attacking Aboriginal people with impunity that Hurley, the officer-in-charge on Palm Island, was confident of exoneration.

The DPP’s refusal to place Hurley on trial caused outrage in indigenous communities and among wide layers of working people. Angry demonstrations were held in Queensland and elsewhere. But Beattie defended the DPP and called in police reinforcements to suppress protests on Palm Island and in nearby Townsville.

Two days later, on December 16, the Murdoch media launched a campaign to reverse the decision. An Australian editorial declared: “[T]he Premier cannot ignore the need to end the appearance created by this wretched affair that the justice system in Queensland favours the powerful and ignores the interests of ordinary people. Particularly when they are black.”

For many years, Murdoch’s outlets have been in the forefront of “law and order” campaigns to boost police powers and resources. Since 2001, they have exploited the bogus “war on terror” to agitate for police-state measures that overturn long-standing legal and democratic rights. The Australian’s concern in this case was that the cover-up of Doomagee’s killing was so blatant that it served to compromise this agenda. A more sophisticated whitewash was required so that “justice appeared to be done”.

Beattie soon began to back down. On December 22, his government appointed a retired judge, Pat Shanahan, to conduct a review. Only five days later, however, Shanahan was obliged to stand aside when it emerged that he had helped select Clare for the DPP post. Former New South Wales chief justice Laurence Street was then appointed to take over the review.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/palm-f03.shtml