home | news l

Redfern inquest findings a sham

Kylie Moon, Sydney

25 August 2004 - Family and friends were angry and in tears on August 14 after hearing the NSW coroner’s findings on the death of the 17-year-old son of Gail Hickey. Coroner John Abernathy described the February 14 fatality in Redfern as a “freak accident”, and exonerated the police who were pursuing him at the time.

Racist policing in Redfern, a suburb with a large Aboriginal population, has long been a source of problems. The death of the young Aboriginal man, whose name the family have requested not be published, sparked an explosion of anger so intense among black youth that the police branded it “one of the worst riots” in Redfern’s history.

The coroner’s report explained that the man had died “of penetrating injury of neck and chest sustained on the morning of 14th February when he fell from his bicycle and was impaled upon a steel fence”, but said that the police were “following” rather than “chasing” the young man at the time. Gail Hickey has explained many times that, like most young black men in Redfern, her son was terrified of the police. Nevertheless, Abernathy said: “I am unable to find that as a probability that the actions of [the police] in following [the young man] contributed in any way to his death.”

“It breaks my heart. All I wanted was justice and the truth to come out”, said Gail Hickey. The findings were “worse than expected”, said Ray Jackson, the president of the Indigenous Social Justice Association and a member of the Socialist Alliance. Jackson described the coroner’s court as a “police court”.

Abernathy found that Constable Michael Hollingsworth, driving a patrol car in the area that night, decided to follow the young man because he was “a person of interest” and that the police car travelled 1``most of the way” down the path “in some proximity” to the bike. Abernathy explained that he could only tell whether Hollingsworth’s interest was “determined” or “casual” by getting evidence from Hollingsworth. However, Abernathy had excused Hollingsworth — probably the most important witness — from giving evidence.

The other police officer in the car, Constable Lee Reynolds, was described by Abernathy as “quite a poor witness with an extraordinary lack of memory of what I would have thought were significant events”.

Abernathy said that constables Allan Rimell and Ruth Rocha were “doing their best to tell the truth” and even went as far as commending the police officers involved, saying that they “did their best to carry out first aid, pending the arrival of ambulance personnel” in “horrific and extremely upsetting” circumstances. This is despite the fact that the police removed the young man from the fence, against basic first aid training.

Abernathy commended Hollingsworth for “leadership and effort”. Since the incident, Hollingsworth has been promoted.

The young man’s photograph had been displayed in the police lunchroom, marked, “High Risk Offender Profile”, and Abernathy noted that Rimmell and Rocha gave contradictory accounts of whether they recognised the young man when they found him impaled on a fence. However, he accepted police statements that they did not recognise him.

Abernathy also noted with concern that the police did not follow NSW coroner protocols in promptly separating the officers involved and interrogating them as soon as possible. In fact, the police officers were off duty for almost a week before they were questioned. All four police officers involved were in the room when each gave their statements, and they discussed their statements with senior officers.

Many questions remain unanswered. Gaps in police radio reports were unexplained, the young man’s bike has still not been presented, there is no explanation why a police emergency vehicle was turned away before the ambulance arrived, one witness’s whereabouts are unknown, another had their car set on fire and many local residents have been intimidated completely from speaking out with concerns about what happened. Said Jackson, “What we need in such a case of death-in-custody is a fully independent inquiry that includes Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.”

From Green Left Weekly

Police cleared in Hickey death

Reporter: Peta Donald

17 August , 2004 - HAMISH ROBERTSON: Police in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern have been largely cleared of contributing to the death of the Aboriginal teenager TJ Hickey.

The seventeen year old came off his bicycle in February and died of injuries from being impaled on a fence, with two police vehicles near-by.

His family and the Aboriginal community in Redfern believed that police chased the boy to his death - and it sparked the Redfern riot that lasted for nine hours and left 40 police officers injured.

But this morning the New South Wales Coroner, John Abernethy, has largely exonerated the police, finding there was no evidence they were pursuing Thomas Hickey - and that there's no evidence to suggest the boy knew they were even behind him.

Joining me is reporter Peta Donald, just back from the court.

Peta, can we look at the findings of the coroner. It does seem that they do largely clear the police?

PETA DONALD: That's right, Hamish. On the question of how Thomas Hickey died, the coroner found that his injuries were probably not survivable. He was riding a bike – the breaks didn't work. He was riding very quickly. He flew around a corner and over the top of his handlebars, came onto the fence, onto a steel picket fence. So that, I guess, is not surprising that he died of those injuries.

But the question of the role of the police was really the central thing that this inquest was looking into. So, there were two caged police vehicles in the area at the time of Thomas Hickey's death. They had been on the lookout for a bag snatcher, from a bag that had been snatched at the Redfern railway station earlier that morning. And there was a question over whether or not the police – these vehicles were chasing TJ or whether or not they just happened to be in the area at the time.

So there was evidence that one of the vehicles had followed TJ up a path and been stopped at a gate, and almost at the same time, a second vehicle went another way around, and then they both seemed to arrive at the scene very shortly after the accident. So the question was, as I said, whether or not they were chasing him. Now, as you alluded to in your introduction, the coroner has found there was no evidence the police knew Thomas Hickey, and there was no evidence that they were pursuing or even chasing him to his death. And, on the other hand, the coroner found that the boy had good reason to be avoiding the police – he had a warrant out against him – but he found there was no evidence that TJ Hickey knew the police were behind him, and in fact he suggested it was usual for TJ to ride his bike quickly.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: What about the evidence though, Peta, that police discussed their statements before making them? What weight did the coroner give to that?

PETA DONALD: Very little weight, Hamish. As you say, the inquiry heard that the four police at the scene went back to the Redfern Police Station and discussed what had happened before making their statements and the statements omitted any reference to one of the police vehicles following TJ up a walkway before being stopped by the gate. So they didn't say anything about that but then later on, that evidence came out. But on that point, the coroner says, "I'm not prepared to give much weight to this omission, or to the omission of the mention of the pathway from the original statement." So he hasn't given it much weight at all.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: What's been the response though of TJ Hickey's family? Not very positive presumably?

PETA DONALD: No. They're very upset. The courtroom was packed this morning and the mother, Gail Hickey, who's been every day of the inquest, was very upset. In fact she was too upset to speak, and this is what her aunt had to say outside the court.

AUNT: I am Gail' s aunt and this is a statement that was made by Gail. I am pleased that the coroner's decided that the police were following TJ and that Constable's Hollingsworth and Reynolds lied about it. But I am disappointed that Constable Hollingsworth did not have to give evidence. I am disappointed that the coroner said that the police did not cause TJ's death. ‘Cause TJ was a good kid and was always kind to his sisters. He was only 17 and we all love him and we miss him very much. And she's so disappointed in what's happened today. She doesn't want to speak and that's about all I can say.

RELATIVE OF T.J. HICKEY: No questions. No questions. We don't want to talk. Go away.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Well that was a member of TJ Hickey's family. Peta, have the police had anything to say after the coroner's findings?

PETA DONALD: The Police Association have had something to say Hamish. They say that they've been completely vindicated by the coroner's findings. One of the police officers was actually recommended for a bravery award by the coroner. So the police are very pleased – or the Police Association is very pleased. And this is what the Police Association President, Bob Pritchard, to say.

BOB PRITCHARD: The police on that day acted very bravely, courageously, and in very tragic circumstances. I believe that they carried out their duties completely professionally and bravely.

PETA DONALD: Do you think they've got off lightly given that they didn't give full statements, that they discussed their statements before they made them?

BOB PRITCHARD: Well the coroner has completely vindicated them and commended them on the actions on the day. I don't think I need to comment any further on that.

REPORTER: But do you think that in future that police should discuss their statements before they give evidence?

BOB PRITCHARD: I think on all occasions, especially major incidents such as this, police will always discuss what happened on the day. I don't think there is anything inappropriate about discussing the incident.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Police Association President Bob Pritchard.

Source: ABC

Redfern, rioting and police

EDITORIAL

August 18 2004 - The Coroner's report into the death of Thomas "TJ" Hickey, which found that police were not responsible for the death, will not quell all concerns about the role of the police in this incident, especially with a question mark over some of their evidence. The 17-year-old died when he fell from his bike and was impaled on a fence. Speculation that he was being pursued by police resulted in the riot in Redfern.

Specifically, the Coroner found that there was no evidence the police "pursued, chased or followed" Thomas. Hence, they were not responsible for his death, although they had been following him shortly before he was impaled on the fence.

The Coroner raised doubts about the reliability of some of the police evidence, finding that two police officers "were not completely candid". Even so, this appears to have had little effect on his findings.

If Thomas's family had gone to the police with their concerns that police pursued the boy, then the outcome "would have followed a very different path", the Coroner found, indicating his belief that the subsequent riot could have been averted. That they did not is indicative of the poor view some within their community have of the police.

Redfern police were on alert that weekend, looking for a thief who had stolen a handbag in front of the railway station. Thomas saw police doing the rounds, and took fright.

The Aboriginal community in Redfern has suffered significantly over the years. A recent influx of drug dealers and addicts has not helped, although a crackdown at the end of July will assist the community in recovering. But real improvements will take time.

Putting in more experienced police, a rethink of policing approaches coupled with significant resources and, above all, patience are essential.

In many respects, the problems of the Aboriginal community in Redfern mirror those confronting Aboriginal communities across the state. Not surprisingly, much of their anger and frustration is directed at the Government and its instruments, especially the police.

Some of that anger and frustration may be justified, although equally, some should be directed at elements of their own community, since large amounts of land and money given to them over the past decade has been mismanaged. This can only be corrected by confronting these issues head on.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Stopping the next riot before it starts

EDITORIAL

August 18, 2004 - The coronial finding that police were not pursuing Thomas "TJ" Hickey when he came off his bike and impaled himself on a metal fence spike in the inner-city suburb of Redfern last February is welcome. A ruling that the police were in some way involved in his death would have only added to the perennial tensions that exist between them and members of the Aboriginal community there. But the fact that many indigenous Australians automatically assumed the police were responsible from the day of the awful accident last February, and rioted in violent protest the next night, demonstrates the depth of indigenous alienation from the police, and the society they serve. Yesterday people in Redfern were still angry at the police.

But the absence of jobs and hope among young inner-city Aborigines, not the police, are the problem in Redfern. This small inner-city precinct is on the edge of the booming Sydney CBD, yet it is cursed by poverty and an epidemic of drug addiction and crime. Redfern is a microcosm for all the problems that bedevil indigenous Australia, and it would be a good place to start to address them. But all we have seen since TJ's death are political stunts, designed to demonstrate the state Government is doing something. There have been police swoops against drug dealing, good but hardly a long-term solution. And there has been a five-month inquiry by a committee of the state parliament's upper house, which suggests improving housing and moving a needle exchange van away from a playground. Much more is needed than this sort of political make-work program. It is time to saturate the streets with community workers to help young Aborigines into training and jobs and to back indigenous leaders in their efforts to create a culture of sobriety. Accomplishing this will be hard and expensive, but if things stay as they are the condition of indigenous Australians in Redfern will remain a national shame, and the next riot just a matter of time.

Source: The Australian

The Block's still seething

By Martin Chulov

August 18, 2004 - A cool wind swept across the streets of Redfern yesterday. Rain fell for the first time in months as Gail Hickey left the inquest in tears after being told how her son TJ died on a fence pole.

The blast of winter was a far cry from the scorching evening six months ago when her Redfern neighbourhood, known as the Block, exploded in the worst rioting Sydney had experienced in decades.

That night, February 15, was a throwback to an incendiary time that successive state and federal governments wished had been buried -- a period when an isolated, race-based underclass raged publicly against authorities.

The ugly February 15 images of street battles that flashed across the world for weeks could easily have been shot during the notorious Los Angeles race riots 10 years earlier or in south London in the 1980s.

The message appeared to be clear: in 2004, racial tension in Australia was alive and kicking.

At the Glebe Coroner's Court yesterday, NSW coroner John Abernethy found that the incident that sparked the riot -- TJ Hickey becoming impaled on a fence pole early on February 15 -- was a "freak accident".

He said there was no evidence to support the community's belief, which later sparked violence, that police had been chasing TJ when he fell from his pushbike on to a fence pole.

The crucial finding was not accepted by residents of the Block, who remain convinced TJ would not have died without police involvement.

"No justice!" shouted one friend of the Hickey family as the coroner's finding was read out. Gail Hickey wept uncontrollably.

At the Block later in the day, Scotty Prince punched the air with a people power salute as the police walked by. He was from the bush and said he was used to witnessing the oppression of indigenous people.

"If we all got together from the bush and the city, there is a lot we could do," Prince said yesterday. "We are trying to prove to the world that we are not just disadvantaged [but that] they are still killing us. It is legalised terrorism.

"It is on a larger scale in the bush. It is happening to a lot of kids all around the country. We know that the police are guilty."

The distrust in the Redfern community is almost institutionalised, born of a mix of entrenched resentment and decades of experience.

The Block is unique in Australian Aboriginal and socioeconomic history. It holds rich cultural and social significance for many residents, whose ancestors once used it as a base when travelling to Sydney to visit friends and family in hospital or prison.

A core group of Aborigines came to the area in the 1940s to find work in the nearby railway yards or to join relatives who had already made the pilgrimage from tribal homelands.

In the '70s, the Block became a key launch pad for the push for indigenous self-determination.

Throughout the past two decades, it has been both a haven for the homeless and a rallying point for the indigenous protest movement against a succession of governments that activists claim have marginalised or ignored Aboriginal interests.

Viewed through this prism and with even a whiff of police involvement in TJ's death, a "freak accident" finding was never going to be an easy sell for this community.

After six months of simmering distrust, these are the facts according to the coroner. Early on the morning of February 15, local youth Christopher Carr allegedly snatched a bag from a woman walking outside Redfern station. The chilling images, caught on closed-circuit television, showed the woman being dragged along the road, desperately clinging to her bag. Later that day, a police patrol was cruising the Block and its surrounds, looking for Carr.

Towards mid-afternoon the patrol, Redfern 16, saw TJ riding fast on his pushbike across a park and down Renwick Street. Redfern 16, containing constables Michael Hollingsworth and Maree Reynolds, followed TJ as he rode his pushbike across a park and down a narrow laneway leading to the back of a housing commission tower. They pulled up when the laneway narrowed and walked around the back of the building, where the fleeing TJ had turned left. They found him impaled on a residential fence, having been flung from his bike. He died in hospital nine hours later.

Friends of Gail Hickey and community members took comfort yesterday from the coroner's finding that police had been following TJ before his death. He did, however, make a key distinction between following and pursuing -- a word that would have added impetus to the claim of police culpability. Carr, whom the police were after, looked too unlike TJ for police to confuse the two, the coroner found.

"People are still trying to talk it through, the family is having a talk, everyone is quite shocked," said community leader Kay Mundine.

"It is a time when people feel protective. People were expecting a lot more. It is not about justice, it is about the law. We have a long journey with the family. It was a horrific death."

On the night of February 15, there was little talking. At about 9pm, a crowd of up to 150 people gathered outside the Redfern railway station.

Among them were members of a forsaken community who believe their disadvantage is reinforced by police and other authorities. Also scattered among their ranks were opportunists -- criminals quick to seize on any chance to take the fight to the police, with or without provocation.

During the six-hour running battle in the street, police and fire brigade officers were pelted with rocks, cement, bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs. About 40 officers were felled, the train station was set alight and surrounding houses were damaged. Surveillance cameras caught many of the rioters and the following week police arrested 15 youths, charging them with affray and acts of violence.

By the time the coroner's findings were delivered yesterday, the rage of February 15 had lost much of its heat. But there are simmering tensions that, police say, could reignite with little warning.

In the months since the riot, the Block has twice been raided by dozens of police searching for heroin and other drugs, and the dealers who supply locals.

"You learn from exceptional circumstances and the police will learn from this as we learn from every disaster," says NSW Premier Bob Carr.

"Every possible lesson will be learned from the police and community experience in this."

This is the same mantra that politicians of every stripe have recited over the decades. Despite good intentions, there has been little progress in attempts to increase the level of harmony between contemporary Aboriginal Australia and the country's wealthiest city.

There are few signs that Whitlam minister Tom Uren's well-intentioned '70s idea to set up the Block, a low-cost, self-contained enclave in which Aborigines could help each other cope with urban life, has any chance of enduring.

At the time, there were grim warnings that ghettos would instead emerge. It didn't take long.

Rather than becoming an epicentre of self-sufficiency and progress, the Block has instead become a site of despair. In such a toxic environment, distrust will continue to simmer.

Source: The Australian

Wrong path leads to fiery requiem

By Philip Cornford and Geesche Jacobsen

August 18 2004 - Thomas "TJ" Hickey might have avoided a horrific death had he pedalled along a different street, report Philip Cornford and Geesche Jacobsen.

With a warrant out for his arrest, young Thomas "TJ" Hickey had every reason to ride his defective bike as fast as he could. In all probability, the 17-year-old fugitive had chosen his route through the backstreets of Redfern to evade police who were hunting a bag snatcher.

Thomas was not the suspect. Slightly built, looking much younger than his years, he did not in any way physically resemble the snatcher, an older, bigger man whom police had identified from a closed circuit video camera.

But Thomas was on forbidden ground - the derelict precincts of The Block, a place of shattered Aboriginal dreams, broken promises and hopelessness. All these failures have made The Block a tough, dangerous place where police venture only in strength, expecting defiance and missiles.

Within a day of his fatal journey, it would erupt into probably the worst street violence in Sydney for decades as young Aborigines attacked police with Molotov cocktails and rocks, setting alight Redfern railway station. Forty police were injured as Thomas was given a fiery requiem, with rioters holding back firemen trying to extinguish the flames.

But all he had expected on the morning of Saturday, February 14 last - Valentine's Day - was a quick ride out of danger. The former country boy from Walgett was in breach of bail conditions which forbade him to enter The Block. He had gone there to visit his mother, Gail, in Eveleigh Street, telling his girlfriend, April Ceissman, that he wanted to get some money for a bike sale in Moore Park, a dozen blocks to the east.

But The Block was in turmoil that morning, with the crews of four police vehicles seeking the bag snatcher. Two of the caged police utilities were Redfern 16 and Redfern 17. The search was called off at 10.57am. Not long after, when Thomas set out, his mother warned him to be on the lookout for police. Gail Hickey told police in a statement that she had given him $20. He was also carrying half a marijuana joint. Neither the money nor the marijuana was found.

Thomas's route was chosen, the NSW State Coroner, John Abernethy, said yesterday, because it gave him a "fair chance of being able to elude [police] should they seek to stop him". Abernethy said: "I do not know what was in TJ Hickey's mind that morning" but he had "good reasons for not wishing to be spoken to by police".

His photograph was on a High Risk Offender Profile in the meal room at Redfern police station. It outlined his police record: steal from a person, assault, break and enter, breach of bail. There was also an arrest warrant sworn in Walgett Children's Court. Thomas knew about the warrant.

If Thomas was evading police, he was successful until he crossed the path of Redfern 16 at the intersection of Turner and Cope streets. The driver, Senior Constable Michael Hollingsworth, 32, and Constable Maree Reynolds, 26, were patrolling, seeking the bag snatcher. They saw Thomas as he went south in Cope Street. "Thomas Hickey had ridden into the middle of a police operation aimed at apprehending another man," Abernethy said.

Thomas cut across a car park from Cope to Renwick Street, where he was seen by the crew of Redfern 17, driver Constable Allan Rimell, 27, and Constable Ruth Rocha, 23, who were also hunting for the bag snatcher. Both officers testified they immediately discounted him as their target. None of the four police knew Hickey or was aware of his HRO profile.

The next sighting of Thomas was by Redfern 16 in Renwick Street, about 50 metres ahead of the police wagon. They followed him onto a walkway which cut alongside a park and Redfern Primary School. Abernethy found that at "some point on Renwick Street, driver Hollingsworth was determined to follow TJ as a person of interest".

Redfern 16's accounts of what happened next were conflicting. When the inquest was under way in July, Hollingsworth refused to give evidence on the grounds it might incriminate him in regard to possible disciplinary action by the Police Commissioner. Abernethy ruled that no adverse inferences were to be the drawn from his refusal.

Abernethy said it was "regrettable that Reynolds and Hollingsworth were not completely candid from the very start. They may have had every reason to follow the deceased down that pathway." He criticised Reynolds as "quite a poor witness with an extraordinary lack of memory of what I would have thought were significant events".

Despite this, Abernethy found that Redfern 16 drove "most of the way" down the 80-metre pathway, stopping near a gate which blocked the way but through which Thomas was able to ride.

At that moment, a relative, Roy Hickey, and a colleague were driving past. They described Thomas as riding across Phillip Street "like a bat out of hell", cutting into a driveway behind the Turanga unit block at 1 Phillip Street.

The cause and effect of the next few moments were the focus of Abernethy's investigation. Was Thomas fleeing police? More importantly, was Redfern 16 pursuing him? Abernethy found that there was no "pursuit" under definitions outlined by the Police Safe Driving Policy, but Thomas was being "followed" by Redfern 16, which had turned around at the park gate near the primary school and lost sight of the young man.

"I am unable to find as a probability that the actions of Redfern 16 in following TJ Hickey contributed in any way to his death," Abernethy said. "The manner in which [Hickey] rode his defective bicycle may have been influenced by the proximity and path" of Redfern 16 but "there is no evidence that [Hickey] was conscious of the [police] presence".

Thomas's bike was not safe, although Abernethy noted that he "was in the habit of riding fast". The front and rear brakes were defective.

There was only one witness to what Abernethy described as a "freak accident". Walking along the driveway about 11.20am, Danny Allen saw Thomas lose control of his bike. He was catapulted over the handle bars and impaled on spikes of an iron picket fence. Allen rang triple 0 on his mobile phone.

Redfern 17 was the first on the scene and Redfern 16 arrived soon after. Abernethy described the scene as "horrific and extremely upsetting". Three of the four officers were, he said, "very inexperienced". Hollingsworth, who was covered with blood as he helped Thomas, was commended by the Coroner for his "leadership and effort".

He said the crews of Redfern 16 and 17 and other police "did their best to carry out first aid" before an ambulance arrived. But Abernethy said Thomas's injuries to his neck and chest were so severe they were "probably non-survivable".

Hollingsworth and Reynolds followed the ambulance to the hospital. Gail and Roy Hickey went to the hospital, where Roy told his cousin what he had seen. A social worker, a Mr James, who gave only a written statement, told the crew of Redfern 16 that the Hickey family believed police had been pursuing Thomas and might have forced him off his bike. But Abernethy described these allegations as "very, very general" and cleared police for not referring to them in their statements made at Redfern station.

"There is no evidence before me that the precise nature of the pursuit allegations was disclosed to any police officer on 14th February," he said. "Sadly, the family knew something of the allegation but elected, no doubt on advice from their community - very poor advice - not to make the allegation to appropriate police with precision and promptitude.

"Had that been done at the outset, this matter would have followed a very different path."

Thomas died at 1.20am the next day, Sunday. Within hours, the black community was blaming police for the young man's death. When night fell over Redfern, rioting broke out in the streets and the police were in trouble.

When the street strife was quelled, the police came in for scathing criticism. Assistant Commissioner Bob Waites told a parliamentary inquiry that communication was so poor, police did not realise how serious the situation was.

About 35 per cent of police on the Redfern roster were inexperienced constables, poorly trained and ill-equipped for what they had to confront.

In July the station's strength was increased by 56 officers to 226, the anti-bag snatch squad was increased from eight to 20 police, and a full- time riot squad of 46 officers was created.

The Coroner was critical of police delays in gathering statements from officers and of reruns of police actions that fatal day. But he made only one recommendations - concerning the future of a sad and totally innocent victim of black anger.

This was Senior Constable Darryl Pace, one of the few Aboriginal police officers at Redfern, who was ostracised by his people in their rage against all police. Pace had led an investigation into an assault and robbery on the day Thomas died.

"It is sad to see an Aboriginal officer, of which there are so few, virtually forced to leave a heavily populated Aboriginal area," Abernethy said. "He should now be given every chance to go on with policing."

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Further information: redfern riots

|| click to go to the top of this page