Kathy Newnam, Darwin
The cover-up of the murder of Douglas Scott in Darwin's Berrimah prison continues to unravel in the Northern Territory Supreme Court. The case against the NT government and three prison officers, Barry Medley, Michael Lawson and Harold Robertson, concluded its second week on April 22. The case, brought by Douglas's widow Letty and son Nathan, is the culmination of an almost 20-year fight to expose the truth about Douglas's death in custody on July 5, 1985.
The week in court began when the NT government defence cross-examined Letty and attempted to discredit her case. It used a statement to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which Letty told the court was not authored by herself, but by her appointed legal representative at the commission, Jon Tippett. Letty told the court that she had not been "allowed to say anything about murder" in the statement or about why Douglas was in unlawful custody, but only about "all the arguments and dysfunctions". Letty said she had not approved of the submission put by Tippett to the commission, supposedly on behalf of Douglas's family.
Letty argued that the royal commission was "all planned by government — set up to cover [up] the murder of our people" and that it had been "a lawyer's picnic on the blood of Aboriginal people".
In its attempt to prove its suicide theory, the defence focussed on the pressures on Douglas at the time of his death. Letty testified to a letter, tendered in evidence, from Douglas in prison, in which he wrote to her about "looking forward to going home and growing up his son and showing his son to his parents".
The court heard a taped interview between Geoffrey Barbaro, solicitor for the royal commission in the NT, and Letty's former legal representative Rodney Lewis, in which Barbaro admitted that foul play "may have taken place". He based this on evidence he had heard from Jeffrey Bindai, who was in the cell opposite Douglas. Bindai was never called to give evidence to the commission and Barbaro admitted to the court that Bindai's statement tendered to the royal commission was inadequate because of a lack of cultural protocols or interpreters in various interviews conducted with him.
Barbaro told the court that his mind had been "hazy" at the time of the interview with Lewis, where he had also stated that the photos of Douglas' body showed his feet clearly high above the floor. This is not what is depicted in the police photos of the scene but according to Letty, this recollection was consistent with the depiction in Polaroid photos that were shown to her by Barbaro during the royal commission.
The minutes of a discussion between Lewis and Tippett further revealed the nature of these Polaroid photos, which cannot be located by the appropriate government departments. Tippett said there was "some suggestion they contained something which was hidden — there was a reason why no-one followed them up".
Two of the accused prison officers, Lawson and Medley, testified along with other prison officers Ian Birbeck and Debbie Gardiner. There were significant inconsistencies between the witnesses and also between earlier statements they had given to the royal commission, including the position of the body, who took it down and how.
Birbeck, the chief prison officer at the time, told the court that nothing was moved from the cell, despite photographic evidence to the contrary. He also told the court that the one thing he remembered clearly was that he saw Douglas's "eyes sunk". Photos of Douglas's body show his eyes closed.
When questioned about the patterned sheet depicted in the photos of Douglas hanging, Medley told the court it was nothing like the standard issue prison sheets. "I've never seen sheets like that before", he said.
The prison officers all denied the existence of racism toward Aboriginal people from prison officers. They also denied any knowledge of brutality or deaths in the prison or that prisoners had been given the message that it was not in their interests to tell the royal commission what happened.
Detectives Michael Stevens and Leslie Martin, who headed the investigation into Douglas's death, also gave evidence. Stevens told the court that the only prisoners interviewed were those in a cell next door, and that according to their statements they had slept through the night. When Stevens was asked "whether it had occurred to him that the prisoners might have been frightened" to give evidence of murder, he replied "there was no reason to be frightened". He testified that statements had not been taken from prisoners within a direct line of sight from Douglas' cell because he "didn't feel it necessary" and "they might not have been there at the time".
Other indications of the inadequacy of the police investigation included:
- Photos were not taken of all aspects of the cell or Douglas' body;
- No measurements were taken of the noose;
- No fingerprints were taken from the grate;
- Douglas' clothing was not examined;
- The body was taken by the funeral director, not police or ambulance officers;
- No reconstruction was carried out to determine if it was possible for someone to tie a sheet to the grate in the ceiling.
Letty was angered by Stevens' claim that during the course of the investigation she had told him by phone that "she'd split up with her husband and didn't want to talk about it". Letty had earlier told the court that Stevens visited her after Douglas' death and she had angrily ordered him away, telling him "you're the police that unlawfully imprisoned my husband".
She tendered in evidence the telegram she had written to Douglas the week before he died telling him "we will always love you daddy love from Letty and baby son Nathan".
Supporters are urged to attend the court hearings during April 26-29 to show solidarity with Letty and Nathan's fight. Messages of support can be emailed via <darwin@greenleft.org.au>.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, April 27, 2005.
Visit the