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Lex Wotton (with granddaughter Tianiwa) outside the Brisbane District Court yesterday afternoon, awaiting a verdict. He collapsed last night, and was rushed to Royal Brisbane Hospital. |
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LEX WOTTON TRIAL: Accused collapses outside court; rushed to hospital
ISSUE 164 - 16 Oct 2008
By Chris Graham
IN BRISBANE
NATIONAL, October 24, 2008: Late last night, Lex Wotton - the man facing a sentence of up to life in prison over the 2004 Palm Island uprising - collapsed outside courtroom number 12 at the Brisbane District Court.
Shortly after 8pm, the court had reconvened briefly, where Judge Michael Shanahan directed that the jury be sequestered overnight, and continue their deliberations this morning.
Mr Wotton walked outside the court, began to have a coughing fit, and collapsed. A nurse present at the scene said Mr Wotton had no pulse and was not breathing.
Semi-conscious, Mr Wotton was rushed to Royal Brisbane Hospital. His wife Cecelia and a group of family and supporters followed.
Mr Wotton's condition last night was unknown, although he remained in hospital.
The jury were to reconvene today at 10am, having retired yesterday at 11am. Later today, their deliberations would have reached their crucial eighth hour when, according to Queensland law, a jury may deliver a majority verdict.
If one juror disagrees with the 11 others, the jury reach a verdict providing deliberations have been conducted for a minimum of eight hours. Obviously, the deliberations of the jury are private.
Mr Wotton is facing a charge of rioting with destruction, after the police station, adjoining courthouse, a police residence and a vehicle in the police garage were destroyed by fire on November 26, 2004.
The uprising followed the death in custody of 36-year-old Palm Island man, Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died of massive internal injuries within an hour of being arrested by Snr Sgt Chris Hurley, the officer-in-charge of the Palm Island police station.
Community tensions were already high with police, but they exploded a week after the death in custody when a pathologist's report claimed Mulrunji had tripped and fallen, and that his death was an accident. He sustained four broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, a torn portal vein and his liver had been “almost cleaved in two”.
A subsequent coronial inquiry found Snr Sgt Hurley had caused the death.
This morning, family, friends and supporters of Mr Wotton - plus a growing contingent of media - will await directions from Judge Shanahan about how the trial is to proceed.
 
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