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Senior Sergeant David Pini and Senior Sergeant Darren Randall... police witnesses to the Palm Island uprising. |
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LEX WOTTON TRIAL: Police witnesses tell of moments leading up to Palm Island uprising
ISSUE 164 - 16 Oct 2008
By Chris Graham
IN BRISBANE
NATIONAL, October 20, 2008: A procession of police witnesses have described the rising tensions and finally the explosive moments surrounding the 2004 uprising on Palm Island that saw the local police station, court house and a police residence burnt to the ground.
Palm Island man Lex Wotton is on trial in the Brisbane District Court for the offence of 'riot with destruction'. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
After a slow start to the trial - it's been regularly punctuated by legal argument - witnesses are now moving through comparatively rapidly. This morning's session saw three police testify.
The first was Sergeant Peter Thomas. He told the court he arrived on Palm with a small group of police on November 25, the day preceding the uprising.
He worked the night shift, and was relaxing in the police barracks the following day when he heard a female voice on a PA system. She was addressing a meeting in the town square.
Sgt Thomas switched off the television and walked to the front verandah of the residence to listen. He then moved to the nearby police station and began loading boxes into a vehicle, when a large crowd of up to 200 people gathered outside. Sgt Thomas ran back to the police barracks, put o his uniform and his gun and headed back to the police station.
There, he told the court, he saw a male person with no shirt on with a long tool in his hand smashing it against the police station.
“The crowd were chanting 'Burn the c**ts. Burn the f**king pigs. Don't let the dogs out,'” he told the court.
The decision was made to abandon the police station and officers fled to the barracks. A stand off with the crowd ensued, and Sgt Thomas was struck with a rock.
“A large rock hit myself in the right hand hip area, that caused bruising. Constable McCarthy also got hit… in the chest.”
Sgt Thomas told the court the bruise - which measured about 15cm in diameter - lasted about three months because of internal bleeding.
On cross examination, Sgt Thomas told the court that prior on the day to the riot, he had noticed rising tensions on the island. At one point, he was forced to stop talking to a man in a suburban part of the island because people kept coming up and abusing him. He also testified that as he passed one house, he received a particularly aggressive stream of abuse.
That night, the quarters he was sleeping in was “rocked” - mangoes, coconuts and rocks were thrown onto the roof at around 3am.
Sgt Thomas told the court that when the violence finally erupted, he saw a man who he knew to be Lex Wotton “striking at (the police station) with a large item similar to a hammer”.
Asked how he knew it was Mr Wotton given he didn't know the accused, Sgt Thomas was referred to a statement h gave police two days after the riot. In it, he'd told investigating police that he had seen Mr Wotton “the previous afternoon at a community meeting in the mall”. Sgt Thomas' statement added that Mr Wotton stood out because he was wearing distinctive sunglasses with a red trim.
But under cross examination from counsel for Mr Wotton, Clive Steirn SC, Sgt Thomas conceded he had not attended a community meeting on the Thursday evening. He could not explain why he'd told police that shortly after the riot, but he denied speaking to other police about the uprising prior to giving his first statement.
Snr Sgt Darren Randall also took the stand in the morning session. He told the court he had worked the nightshift prior to the day of the uprising, and was sleeping on the morning of November 26. He was awoken by an angry male voice on a PA system. “He told the court he hard words to the affect of, “I'm not going to take it. Let's go get 'em”.
Snr Sgt Randall woke other police in the barracks and they began getting dressed. He instructed junior officers to run from the barracks to the police station (a short distance) and not to stop “for any reason”.
But he told the court upon reaching the station, police soon made the decision to abandon it, and retreat back to the barracks.
“There was a dull road… just objects hitting the station,” Snr Sgt Randall testified. Objects were smashing into windows and walls, and onto the roof.
Snr Sgt Randall said the assault was coming from all directions. “It became very apparent we were not going to be able to keep the station in tact.”
On cross examination, Snr Sgt Randall was referred to his statement made to police on the evening of the riot. In it, he claimed the voice at the public meeting had said words to the affect of, “I don't know about you, but I'm not copping it from these c**ts. Let's riot. Let's go and get the police.”
Snr Sgt Randall rejected the suggestion the words weren't said. He also testified that police fled the station as it was torched, and that he heard over police radio claims that a man with a sledgehammer was smashing up the front of the police station.
Snr Sgt Randall also rejected suggestions that only a small section of the crowd was engaged in the riot, and that most were onlookers.
“My perception at the time was that we were surrounded and the whole crowd was volatile and hostile towards us,” he said.
Snt Sgt Randall also rejected a suggestion that the crowd moved away from police at any stage during the rioting.
The third officer to give evidence this morning was Snr Sgt David Dini. He arrived by plane on the island just before the uprising began. A vehicle was sent to pick him up from the airport, and then he and two officers were diverted away from the police station. That watched - and photographed - the uprising from a look out on the island.
Two more police witnesses are scheduled to give evidence this afternoon.
 
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