Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Servic --- "The Ti Tree Incident ... Update" [1981] AboriginalLawB 32; (1981) 1(2) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 9

• The Ti Tree Incident ... Update

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The Ti Tree Incident ... Update

by Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service

The August edition of the AboriginalLB reported that the inquest into the death of Johnny Boy Ross Jabanardi was in progress. (See [1981] AboriginalLB 13; 1(1)p9) On 12th August, the Chief Magistrate committed Constable Clifford for trial on a charge of murder.

During the inquest there was a general attack on the impartiality of the police conduct, and particularly that of Assistant Commissioner Grant, when he was enquiring into the shootings. At all times the police opposed charges being laid against Clifford and it was suggested the enquiry was aimed at exonerating him. The Chief Magistrate has stated that he will publish his findings after the trial. They are awaited with interest.

Clifford was tried before an all-white Alice Springs jury on the charges of murder of Johnny Boy Ross Jabanardi and malicious wounding of Freddy Pepperil Jagamara. On the 30th October the jury acquitted him of all charges. Clifford had not been suspended from the police force until afterr he was committed for trial, a year after the shootings. He remained on bail throughout.

On 4th November the Centralian Advocate published a letter from Alex Carolan, General Secretary of the N.T. Police Association stating:

‘Sir, On behalf of the N.T. Police Association I would like to express sincere thanks to the people of the N.T. for their continued support and many kind offers of assistance for Constable Jack Clifford over recent months: - The members of the Police Association were always totally convinced of Jack's innocence. We pledged our support to him from the start and that support never wavered. The measure of support from the people of Central Australia made that nightmare more bearable...’

The letter ignores the continuing nightmare of the Aboriginal community at Ti Tree; one of their members is dead and another nearly died. The letter also states:

‘It demonstrates clearly that groups, some publicly funded, who from time to time seek publicity by waging attacks against members of the police force in Central Australia are not representative of the community. One cannot help being suspicious of the motives of these persons whose sole contribution to the social problems of Central Australia is to make unwarranted attacks on the integrity of members of the police force ...'

It is assumed that these comments are directed against the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service. The Police Association choose to ignore the fact that it was the Chief Magistrate who committed Clifford for trial and the Chief Judge who decided that there was a case to be put to the jury.

On 7th December Clifford faces a committal hearing in Alice Springs on the charge of causing actual bodily harm. This charge arises out of a totally different incident early in 1981.