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Palm Island community teacher Joelene O'Neill has testified she saw Lex Wotton carrying a petrol drum, shortly before the local police station, courthouse and a residence were torched. |
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LEX WOTTON TRIAL: Palm teacher witnesses Wotton carrying red petrol drum, court hears
ISSUE 164 - 16 Oct 2008
By Chris Graham
IN BRISBANE
NATIONAL, October 16, 2008: A community teacher from Palm Island has told a Queensland court that she saw accused Palm Island rioter Lex Wotton carrying a red petrol drum shortly before the local police station, courthouse and a police residence were burnt to the ground.
But the woman denied an ongoing dispute with the Wotton family had anything to do with the statements she gave to police four months after the uprising. She also rejected suggestions that a phone call to Mr Wotton after giving the statement to police was done to “rub it in”.
Joelene O'Neill testified yesterday in the trial of Lex Wotton, the man accused of 'riot with destruction' following the November 26, 2004 island uprising. It was sparked by the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee, who had been picked up by police a week earlier and died within an hour of being arrested from massive internal injuries.
Ms O'Neill told the court she had known Lex Wotton for a number of years. On the morning of the uprising, she was teaching at the Bwgcolman Kindergarten. At midday, she took her lunch break and went to the local mall (a large courtyard area in the centre of town).
Ms O'Neill said she caught the end of a series speeches about the death of Mulrunji given by various Aboriginal people, then returned to the school only to be told it was shut for the afternoon. She went back to the community store, which is located on the edge of the mall area.
There, Ms O'Neill said she saw a crowd of people moving towards the police building. Mr Wotton was among them and she said she saw him carrying a red petrol tin. Ms O'Neill estimated she was about “half a football field” away from Mr Wotton at the time. She also told police she saw Mr Wotton throwing stones.
Ms O'Neill testified that she saw nothing further because she left the area and went home.
On cross examination, however, an interactive CD rom was played to the jury, which showed the area in which she was standing, and where she says she saw Mr Wotton. Ms O'Neill accepted a suggestion by counsel for Mr Wotton, Clive Steirn SC that the distance could be “much longer”. She also agreed her line of sight was “very narrow”.
Ms O'Neill acknowledged that there was considerable confusion at the time, but was adamant that she saw Mr Wotton.
The court heard that Ms O'Neill's sister had made a number of serious allegations against Mr Wotton's brother (which were later dismissed) and Mr Steirn suggested that was her motivation for testifying.
She denied she was angry with the Wotton family, but asked again later she replied, “That has nothing to do with it.”
Ms O'Neill confirmed that she had assisted police in “February or March”, some months after the uprising. She also acknowledged that she phoned Mr Wotton after speaking to police and told him that he had made a statement in the matter, although she denied apologising to him at the time.
“I rang him and told him I did a statement and this is what's in the statement. I didn't apologise,” she told the court. She also denied that she'd told Mr Wotton she was “confused” when she made the statement.
It was suggested Ms O'Neill made the call to “rub it in”. She replied: “We did have a kind of… relationship. My defacto and Lex are friends. I just felt I needed to tell him that, and that was it.”
Ms O'Neill confirmed Mr Wotton advised her that she should not be talking to him because it was an ongoing court matter, and he hung up.
The trial of Mr Wotton is ongoing and is scheduled to finish at the end of next week, but may progress longer.
 
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