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Lex Wotton at Brisbane District Court earlier this month. He stands accused of riot with destruction, following the 2004 uprising on Palm Island after the death in police custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee. |
LEX WOTTON TRIAL: Wotton turned off water supply before fire: court
ISSUE 164 - 16 Oct 2008
By Evan Schwarten
BRISBANE, October 19, 2008: Alleged rioter Lex Wotton turned the water supply off after setting fire to the Palm Island police station to prevent fire crews rescuing the building, a Brisbane court heard on Friday.
Mr Wotton has pleaded not guilty to one count of rioting with destruction over the November 26, 2004, incident which resulted in the destruction of the police station, the courthouse and an officer's residence on the island off Townsville.
A witness to the 2004 riot, Lindsay Malone, on Friday told the Brisbane District Court she saw the accused tipping what appeared to be petrol from a water bottle on the side of the petrol station and setting fire to it.
She said Mr Wotton laughed when fire crews arrived a short time later and set up their hoses, only to find no water coming out.
"He said: `I turned the water off, now you can't do anything'," Ms Malone told the court.
However, defence lawyer Clive Steirn accused Ms Malone of "making things up as you go along" because she did not like Mr Wotton.
He pointed to what he said were inconsistencies between her current account of events and previous versions given in court and to police, such as the colour of the liquid in the water bottle and the weapons allegedly used by Mr Wotton during the incident.
But Ms Malone denied the claim and said she was being truthful.
The court earlier heard the riot erupted after the findings of a post-mortem examination on the body of island resident Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died in police custody a week earlier, were read out at a town meeting.
The trial continues next week.
NIT will have full updates of the trial as it continues. - AAP
 
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