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Lex Wotton, pictured outside the Brisbane District Court yesterday with his daughter. |
LEX WOTTON TRIAL: Day three of Wotton trial begins with a splutter
ISSUE 164 - 16 Oct 2008
By Chris Graham
Brisbane District Court
NATIONAL October 8, 2008: Day three of the trial of Lex Wotton - the accused ringleader of the Palm Island riots - has begun with a splutter.
Most of the morning has been taken up with legal argument about several aspects of the trial. When a witness finally did take the stand shortly before lunch, she only lasted several minutes before she was stood down for more legal argument, and amid concerns for her health.
Mr Wotton is facing one count of rioting with destruction in the Brisbane District Court, following the torching of the Palm Island police station, court house and police barracks on November 26, 2004.
The uprising followed the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee, an island resident, a week earlier, and the release of a pathologist's report into the death which labelled it an accident.
Mulrunji had been arrested by Senior Sergent Chris Hurley - the island's most senior police officer - for 'public nuisance' on the morning of November 19. Within an hour, he was dead on the floor of a cell in the Palm Island police station - four of his ribs were fractured and his liver had been almost cleaved in two by a massive blunt force trauma.
Tiana Friday, aged 26, is the niece of Lex Wotton and works on Palm Island as a branch support office for the Police Citizens Youth Centre Support Association. She was the second witness to take the stand in her uncle's trial.
She was clearly a reluctant witness, delivering her evidence quietly and with her eyes barely moving from the floor. The Crown Prosecutor acknowledged at the start of her evidence that she "wasn't feeling well".
Ms Friday told the court she was present during the riot, and saw the Palm Island courthouse in flames.
She said she recalled seeing her 'Uncle Lex' talking to police earlier in the day, and that she also saw a "crowd crowding around [Snr Sgt Hurley]" the man deemed responsible by a Queensland coroner for the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee.
Ms Friday was asked if she could hear Lex Wotton talking, but she said the noise of the crowd drowned out what he was saying to police. She was also asked if she recalled Mr Wotton saying anything in the course of the afternoon.
"That's where I'm confused. In my statement it says I heard him say 'The petrol drum is empty'."
Ms Friday told the court that after the riot, members of the community were talking and she was now unsure whether she heard her uncle make the comment, or whether she "heard it through the grapevine" later on.
Her evidence prompted an immediate call for an adjournment from the Crown Prosecutor. The jury was called back in a short time later and Justice Michael Shanahan informed them that he had concerns for Ms Friday's health, and that he had asked court officials to ensure she was seen by a doctor.
The accused, Lex Wotton, appeared visibly upset by some of the proceedings, as did some members of the public gallery.
The trial has now broken for lunch. Ms Friday's evidence may resume depending on her health.
Meanwhile, Justice Shanahan also warned the jury that video evidence they saw in court yesterday contained many "irrelevancies" and that jurors should disregard much of what they saw.
A defence video was played to the court which depicted several Palm Island Aboriginal leaders addressing crowds at various public meetings after the death of Mulrunji, and before the riot.
The footage was captured by freelance cameraman, Stephen Hume.
Beverley Robinson, a young leader on the island addressed the crowd, telling them she had questioned police as to why they were increasing their numbers on the island immediately after the death in custody.
Ms Robinson told the crowd the police had feared there would be a riot.
"No, we're not going to resort to violence like they (the police) did. We're going to verbally abuse (the police).
"If we don't come together now as a community, we got no chance dealing with government or police."
Local Mayor Erykah Kyle was also filmed speaking on several occasions. She made an impassioned plea to local residents, particularly children.
"How many more Aboriginal people have to die in custody? This is the first time that we've lost one of our own in a death in custody. It's a turning point for us.
"[Mulrunji] never made trouble... it's the first time... it must be the last.
"We must move as one people. Think, young people. This is your island too. How are you going to change it? How are you going to build it?"
David Bulsey, a well known local resident, was also filmed addressing the crowd. His speech was just passionate as those before him.
"We don't want trouble on this island, we want bloody justice," Mr Bulsey said.
"If we don't stand up it's going to happen again and again and again. It could happen to one of your children.
"This is cold blooded murder."
All of that footage, however, was deemed 'irrelevant' by Justice Shanahan.
He told the jury that only two sections of the footage had relevance to the trial of Mr Wotton for rioting with destruction.
Mr Hume had captured gut-wrenching footage of an emotional Roy Bramwell addressing the crowd.
Mr Bramwell was present in the Palm Island police station when the fatal injuries were inflicted on Mulrunji. As he broke down, he told the crowd what he saw, stating that Snr Sgt Hurley had repeatedly punched Mulrunji while he was lying on the floor, and stated 'Do you want more Mr Doomadgee, do you want more?'
"If I'd have stood up and said something they'd have took me in the cell and done the same thing to me," Mr Bramwell said.
There was also footage captured of Lex Wotton addressing the crowd in the background while a journalist spoke to the camera. You could not make out what Mr Wotton was saying.
Justice Shanahan said the jury could choose to use the two latter pieces of footage to put in context comments Mr Wotton made at a later public meeting, and to confirm that he was at the public meeting. But the remaining footage should be set aside.
The trial continues this afternoon, and is set down for three weeks.
 
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