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Lex Wotton arrives at Brisbane District Court yesterday. He stands accused of riot with destruction, following the 2004 uprising on Palm Island after the death in police custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee |
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LEX WOTTON TRIAL: Accused was trying to diffuse tensions, says Palm youth worker
ISSUE 164 - 16 Oct 2008
By Chris Graham
IN BRISBANE
NATIONAL, October 9, 2008: A Crown witness in the Palm Island riot case has told a Brisbane court that the man accused by police of leading the November 2004 uprising was trying to "diffuse tensions" between police and the community in the hours leading up to - and during - the riot.
Hal Walsh was the third witness to take the stand in the trial of Lex Wotton.
Mr Walsh testified that on the day of the riot, he witnessed Mr Wotton trying to calm residents, particularly youths, who were throwing stones at police.
He also told the court that Mr Wotton had asked him to arrange for a bus to take police safely to the airport.
An Aboriginal man born in Cairns but living on Palm Island for several years prior to the death in custody and riot, Mr Walsh was employed as a youth justice coordinator on the island.
His job was to ensure that youths under Department of Correctional Services orders were supervised and met their obligations.
Now a fourth year law student, Mr Walsh told the court that as tensions rose on the island in the days after Mulrunji’s death, he tried to ensure that youths under his care stayed well clear of trouble.
Asked why, he replied: “Because I knew that if they were in the vicinity of anything going on they’d be the first to be harassed.”
He told the court that tensions between police and local youths had been ongoing - a common practice on the island was for youths to throw rocks onto the rooves of the local police barracks at night while officers were trying to sleep.
But as the riot drew nearer, Mr Walsh said he could only watch as youths ‘rocked’ the local police station at will while a growing crowd of youths and adults confronted police.
He recalls at least two of the youths in his care joining the confrontation with police.
Mr Walsh’s evidence began with testimony that as confrontations with police escalated, he heard Mr Wotton state words to the affect of: ‘What have we got to do to get answers around here? Burn government offices or police [stations] down?’
The court was then played a video of the riots which had been filmed on Mr Walsh’s camera. The footage captures an angry community meeting shortly before the riot broke out.
Mayor of Palm Island, Erykah Kyle is filmed announcing the results of a pathologist’s report into the death in custody of Mulrunji to a crowd of several hundred people, who had gathered in the town square.
“There was an accident at around 10:40. There was a fall,” Ms Kyle said.
“Dr Fenton (the local GP) explained what he called a compressive force on his body where four ribs were broken and that caused a rupture in his liver and that caused... a lot of bleeding,” Ms Kyle told the crowd.
“One of our young men described it as like a football... like when you fall on a football.”
The Mayor said she had been informed that after the injury occurred, officials had just half an hour to save Mulrunji, but that his condition wasn’t discovered until 11:23am.
“That’s all the information I can give today.”
Ms Kyle urged the community to show respect to the grieving process for the Doomadgee family and she added, “We thank God for the life of [Mulrunji] Doomadgee.”
It wasn’t enough to calm the crowd.
Footage pans to the left and shows Mr Wotton to the far side of the town square yelling, ‘That’s not an answer’ as Ms Kyle tells the crowd that the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission is going to investigate the death in custody.
Mr Wotton walks to the microphone, and addresses the meeting.
“C’mon people. We all wanted this. We wanted to know. We will accept this as an answer?” Mr Wotton says.
“Things gonna burn. I’ve spoken to the young people... We’ll decide when... I’m not going to accept this. Let’s do something more than this.”
Another man - David Bulsey - tells the crowd the police are trying to incite a riot by not jailing the man accused of causing the death in custody, Snr Sgt Chris Hurley.
“We want this man in prison,” Mr Bulsey says. “He’s a cold blooded murderer. If I killed someone like that they’d farm me off to prison.”
Later, the video cuts to a scene of smoke coming from the police station. And later, members of the crowd can be heard yelling, “Let it burn” as firefighters arrive to extinguish a blaze which has begun at the neighbouring police barracks.
The video shows almost two dozen police lining a wall at the local hospital. Many of them armed - an uncommon practice on the island - and some are carrying batons.
A female voice can be heard on the video: “The cops are having to wait at the hospital... running from the barracks, hiding out down here.”
The same voice adds later: “Old Erykah... come and settle this after spending all week fuelling it.”
A large crowd is gathered around police, yelling at officers. A police dog - a Rottweiler - has arrived on the scene with its handler and is barking and snarling at protesters.
Several helicopters can been seen in the skies above.
During cross examination by Clive Steirn SC, Mr Walsh told the court he attended a series of public meetings staged by the Palm Island Council in the days after the death in custody.
He said he minuted a request by the community for the Police Minister to attend the island.
Mr Walsh told the court that prior to the death in custody, there were relatively few police on Palm Island, but after Mulrunji’s death the numbers swelled.
“It was kind of intimidation tactics,” he said. Asked how, he replied, “Just their numbers. I’ve never seen that amount of uniform police numbers [on Palm Island].”
In the days after the death in custody, Mr Walsh said that police began writing parking tickets for local residents and enforcing traffic laws that had were generally ignored.
“A lot of people were getting pulled up for petty stuff... [like] not wearing seatbelts.”
In re-examination, he conceded he hadn’t seen parking tickets issued himself, but he did recall one “petty” offence where a motorist had been booked.
On the day of the riot, Mr Walsh said he recalled seeing Mr Wotton with some council officials working on some water pipes near the centre of town.
Shortly before the riot, Mr Walsh said youths began directly confronting police. He recalled seeing at least two youths under his care throwing rocks at police. At one point, Mr Wotton arrived and demanded they stop.
Mr Steirn: And they continued to throw stones in broad daylight?”
Mr Walsh: Yeah.
Mr Steirn: Something they used to do in the dead of night?
Mr Walsh: Yeah.
As tensions escalated, Mr Walsh saw Mr Wotton in discussions with a senior police officer at the police barracks, and then again a short time later at the hospital. Local residents were still screaming at police, and rocks were still being thrown.
At one point, Mr Wotton turned to the crowd and yelled, “C’mon people, let’s leave these guys alone.” Rocks were still being thrown. Mr Wotton paused, then yelled, ‘Now’ at a group of youths. They stopped for a short time, and the crowd briefly went quiet.
At the confrontation at the hospital, Mr Walsh said he heard Mr Wotton say to a group of youths, “You can’t throw rocks here. There’s sick people inside.”
Mr Walsh said he was then asked by Mr Wotton to assist the police in leaving the island. “He asked me ‘Can you arrange for transportation so these guys can get to the airport safely?”
Mr Walsh said several government agencies subsequently refused to assist by allowing access to their vehicles.
Mr Walsh said Mr Wotton had also actively tried to assist the female Mayor, Erykah Kyle.
“Without being a chauvinist... the only male to get in the middle... and protect her from both sides was Lex.”
After the riots, Mr Walsh inadvertently became a key target of investigating police because they became aware of his videotape of the incident.
It resulted in a raid and search on his aunty’s home, two days after order was restored.
“Everything was just everywhere. Like, seriously, there was like five coppers in the house,” Mr Walsh said.
His cousin, Tiana Friday, who was also present during the raid had earlier testified that police had tipped the house “upside down” and that Mr Walsh had been unnecessarily manhandled by one of the police, Detective Sergeant Darren Robinson.
Mr Walsh told the court he challenged Det Sgt Robinson for a search warrant, but was told police didn’t need one.
“I walked in and said, ‘What are you doing, what are you looking for? All you had to do was ask [for the tape]?’, which he handed to police.
Mr Walsh also testified that Ms Friday was being escorted around by police in her nightdress, with no undergarments on.
Mr Walsh, his cousin Eileen and Ms Friday were taken by police to a makeshift station. Mr Walsh and his cousin were released some hours later after signing statements, however Ms Friday was still in the custody of police when he left.
 
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