Sunday, January 28, 2007

International deaths in custody

The plight of Indigenous people is frequently lamented all over the world. While death in custody is a contentious issue in Australia, we are not the only nation to have the spotlight thrown on Indigenous deaths, particularly in lieu of British colonization, though I am sure we are the only country to ignore 339 recommendations of a royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.

The death of a man in custody on Palm Island sparked riots in 2004, and the decision by the Queensland DPP to not charge an officer implicated in his death by a coronial inquiry prompted protests earlier this year. That decision has been overturned by the QLD attorney general, who decided Sgt Hurley should face trial, after an independent review of the issue by Sir Laurence Street, a former NSW chief justice.

*The Indigenous residents of Palm Island, who are said to have an average life expectancy of 50 years, were transported there in custody in 1918, and taken from 47 different language groups in Qld.

A few links on deaths in custody:
on Wiki
Britain
India
Bangladesh
South Africa

Monday, January 22, 2007

Tanja Stark artwork archived

Signs of things to come, check out the work of the sublimely gothic cowgirl who spells out for Abbott & Costello precisely what they're up against.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Round-up

The end of a long week prompts another patchwork post:

The WA Attorney-General, Jim McGinty, is working on a comedy routine - maybe he should throw in a few of these.

A radioactive canister, used for God-only-knows-what absolutely essential toxic procedure in mining, has been found 5km north of the Badgingarra Roadhouse. Now while the PM wants us to know that nukes are a-o.k(!) - when it went missing 2 months ago, people were warned to go no closer than 5m from the canister. Can someone tell me why the dangerous substances transportation regulations are being reviewed only now it's been found?

The Werst Australian's editor, Paul strongArm, has been charged with contempt... ahem... again. Check out this link and gaze upon his iridescent splendour... strangely enough, the story doesn't rate a mention on The Werst's homepage.

Tough times for WA sexworkers and strippers who were done-over by Centrelink last week, and a john on the con, turns out to be a police impersonator - I wonder if his routine's as good as these guys?

Whose on your child's chatlist? The Cyber-Predator Unit could teach some Interpol member-countries some things.

More holdups in the inner-city. What I want to know, is how he scrambled past all the al-fresco diners and latte set who mill around Oxford St, moaning and gnashing their teeth all the way back to their beamers. Could it be that last week's stick-up in neighbouring Glendalough yielded enough money for a firearm and visit to the barber?

Finally, what was it about Perth police that made mentally ill Daniel Rolph scared enough to get into a car chase, brandish a knife and stab an officer, before being shot and dying in his dad's arms? From media reports it appears Daniel Rolph tried to make it home after seeing police at his local skate park to seek refuge in his family's house, and Wembley police continued the chase on foot through their home. A police spokesperson said the Wembley police knew Daniel Rolph, because of his illness, and that they are now conducting a routine use-of-force review.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

& as if on cue...but the decision to look for Aboriginal graves under Tentland isn't anything to do with it.


While you're here...
Check out the vilification of Deborah Locke, one of Australia's most famous whistleblowers on Gary Hughes' classic true-crime Gotcha blog at The Australian.
Check out who's decrying the girl with the most moxie, and take your best guess who he might be...

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Mixed bag

Anybody looking at news from this region in the last few weeks would have to wonder what is happening to our state's biorhythms. From acts of nature to freaks of nature we've had it all. So this post is a roundup of the goings on, to keep all you Eastern-Staters tuned.

Would you like fries with that...
Could there be huge potential for detectives and YouTube? Last Saturday at about 9pm an armed robbery was committed at the Subway store in the inner-city suburb of Glendalough, by a bandit wielding a blood-filled syringe. Opting for a side order of folding stuff to go with his meatball sub, the robber got away, but left ample footage of his pallid mug on the camera for good measure.
Check it out & see if you recognize this poor feckless wonder with a soft spot for soft targets. The video is top quality and will fill both customer and staff with a tremendous amount of confidence - it feature's a great shot of the cashier scratching his bum and an ultra close-up of the notes being taken out of the till, but no ultra close-up of the thief's face.

Who needs a tsunami?
Esperance has been flooded in what the Perth media billed as the 'storm of a lifetime,' Cyclone Isobel. When it looked like two storms would converge over WA, few seemed to know where exactly the eye of the storm would hit. Esperance is under water and Margaret Quirk has stopped looking for Noah.

Wheelie-bin murder
Two girls accused of murdering a 16 y/o girl & dumping her body in a wheelie bin in the back yard over Christmas, have faced court. The pair were reprimanded by the magistrate for giggling at one of their court appearances and have been remanded in custody.

You'd never guess it was a full moon
A 55 y/o Gidgegannup man has been charged after a 41 y/o man was stabbed and his house set on fire in the suburbia south of Perth yesterday. The injured man staggered to the road where neighbours came to his aid and they then noticed his house was on fire.

& in sports
The Poo drops out of the Hopman Cup, leaving Russia to take victory in the Perth event. I can't say I've seen the Scud do too much playing on the court of recent years. He said in an interview before the event, that he still 'loves tennis and wants to play'(so does my Great Aunt Mavis) but clearly his knee doesn't like losing.

Finally
Rottnest Island Authority has decided to do something about 'Tentland' on the island - Wadjemup, built on top of the burial ground of the Indigenous people who were enslaved and tortured in the WA colony's early years.
Despite the burial ground having been common knowledge for experts, and the stuff of ghost stories amongst students and travellers for decades, the authority say their recent decision to look into it further has nothing to do with the move to make the accomodation on the island more upmarket.

Elsewhere - Prison meal portions too small?
A French prisoner who was recommended for solitary confinement a week earlier, was discovered chowing down on one of his cellmates. He told guards he had ripped out his cellmate's heart & eaten it, although it seems his understanding of anatomy was a little out. The other cellmate, who undoubtedly was relieved not to have become the main course, was charged with being an accomplice when he said he had seen nothing & slept through the entire ordeal.

New Years date-rape drugs seized

According to Perth media, a 34 y/o Duncraig man who works as a sound & lighting technician in a Northbridge nightclub, was charged with possession of the date-rape drug, GHB.

Police claim the 1.6 litres found at the house equates to about 800 hits of the drug, which earnt its early reputation as the 'date-rape drug,' because its liquid form made it easier to spike drinks with.

The volatile drug has been popularized for illicit use at dance venues, but still has many associated health risks for users.

The drug is characterized by its unpredictability, with the same or similar amounts offering a high one time and an overdose another time.

It's toxicity is meant to be increased with the use of alcohol or other drugs/medication, making it particularly life-threatening for those who have their drink spiked.

To work in a field involving children, staff must have not only a police clearance, but a 'working with children' certificate - why then, once our children turn eighteen, do we forget their safety? Isn't it about time clubs and licensed venues offered better security for their patrons (many of whom are just out of high school) via mandatory police clearances for all staff?

Death in custody to be reviewed

The Western Australian Appeals Court supported reinstating charges against 5 prison officers who told police they had done CPR on an inmate after discovering his body, but a court heard they only performed the CPR once a senior officer had been called in and instructed them to do so.

The three male & two female officers will face court in March.

The inmate in question, Christopher Moore, died by hanging at Woorooloo Prison Farm 6 years ago.

A quick perusal of the investigations into the hanging deaths of inmates would indicate that dead criminals are hardly on the priority list for the authorities, with ambiguous and inconclusive testimony commonplace for coroners to have to try to draw conclusions from.

More than ten years on, the 339 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody are yet to be implemented.

One of the few recommendations ever set into action, albeit temporarily, was the formation of the Deaths in Custody Watch Committees in each city around Australia.

But funding for the group mysteriously dried up in the years following the submission of a 'torture report' to the United Nations, the first of its kind from Australia - comprehensively & medically documenting suspicious injuries incurred by inmates.

The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee of WA has tried to keep going without any government funding. Saying the loss of funding is an opportunity to become more independent, the NGO is maintaining the rage, last year holding rallies in relation to the decision not to charge the officer involved in the death of Mulrunji, and calling for an immediate inquiry into the death of 35 y/o WA father of three, Carl Woods within ten minutes of his arrest in April.

DICWC(WA) matters can still be referred to Committee members who are committed to helping all in the community who are at risk, or affected by a death in custody.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Early morning beach activity in Mona Vale...check out the photography of Aesthetic over at Pleasant Ave.