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Policeman who shot Wadeye teen won't face charges
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
8:51:20 AM
By Tara Ravens
DARWIN, December 4, 2007: A policeman who fatally shot a teenager in the back during rioting at a remote Aboriginal community will not be charged, despite a coronial inquiry finding he may have committed a crime.
Constable Robert Whittington was "in a blind panic" when he "made a fatal error of judgment" and killed Robert Jongmin on October 23, 2002, Northern Territory coroner Greg Cavanagh said yesterday.
The 18-year-old was taking part in police-sanctioned fist fights between warring gang members the Judas Priest boys and Evil Warriors at the troubled community of Wadeye, about 350km south-west of Darwin.
When the fights got out of control full-scale brawling erupted, with up to 400 people wielding spears, sticks, knives, machetes and wheel braces spilling onto the community oval.
Handing down his findings in Wadeye yesterday, Mr Cavanagh said the teenager was shot by Senior Const Whittington while he tried to wrestle a shotgun from another teenager, Tobias Worumbu.
The officer, who was relieving at Wadeye at the time and had only been in the community for six days, fired four bullets from his Glock pistol after Mr Worumbu's gun discharged.
Mr Cavanagh said it was likely that the last shot was the one that killed the teenager, while Mr Worumbu was shot in the arm.
Senior Const Whittington was originally charged with committing a dangerous act, but the charge was dismissed last year because the prosecution had not been brought within the required two-month period for police.
In February the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) declared the matter closed, decided not to take an appeal to the High Court.
"I find that Whittington did not intend to kill, wound or shoot the deceased," Mr Cavanagh said yesterday.
"However Whittington's decision to discharge his pistol four times in the circumstances demonstrated a serious error of judgment."
Mr Cavanagh said the officer - who was not trained to fire over long distances and was known for having a poor attitude towards authority - had clearly breached one of the four fundamental safety principles for discharging weapons, namely to be sure of your target.
"There was simply no justification whatsoever for Whittington's decision to continue firing his pistol," he said.
"Whittington discharged his pistol four times because he acted under considerable stress and and was probably in a blind panic at that time.
"I report to the Commissioner of Police and Director of public Prosecution that (a crime) ... may have been committed which caused serious actual danger to the life, health and safety [of the two boys shot]."
But DPP director Richard Coates yesterday said the case remained closed.
"The coroner is just saying what he is obliged to say under the Coroner's Act," Mr Coates said.
"He has done that and we adopted a similar view when we laid the original charges against Mr Whittington and that matter has been through the courts and the courts have dismissed the charge."
Mr Coates said the decision to dismiss the charge was upheld by the court of appeal.
"In these circumstances it is not possible to re-lay the charge," he said.
Also in his findings, Mr Cavanagh slammed the practice of police-sanctioned fist fights.
"Police should not have assisted and supervised public fighting as a means of dispute resolution. Not only does it perpetuate a culture of violence but it is also illegal," he said. - AAP
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