Gray, Ian; Harper, Jeremy --- "VALS Follows Through" [1981] AboriginalLawB 34; (1981) 1(2) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 10

• Vals Follows Through

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VALS Follows Through

by Ian Gray and Jeremy Harper

In three recent matters, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service is 'following through' rather than simply accepting situations that have given it cause for conceal.

The first matter concerns a fourteen year-old boy held in custody at Melbourne's Turana Youth Training Centre on a charge of attempted murder. After being held for some time at the Centre, the boy learned that his father had been killed in a car accident in Northern Victoria. Despite representations by VALS on the boy's behalf, the Department of Community Welfare Services refused permission for the boy to attend his father's funeral. VATS is now seeking clarification of the Department's policy on such matters. It is well known that those held in custody, whether convicted' prisoners or those on remand,' are regularly escorted to the funerals of close relatives.

In the second matter, a VALS client was charged with assault following a dispute between black and white patrons of a country hotel. During the Magistrates' Court hearing, evidence was given that shots had been fired during the disturbance by one of the whites, that the identity of this person was known, and that he had been spoken to, but not charged, by the police. VALS has written to the Chief Commissioner of Police asking why no charges had been laid against this person concerning the discharge of a firearm in a public place.

In the third matter that has recently caused the VALS concern, a case has been referred to a Regional Superintendent of Police and to the Victorian Attorney-General for investigation as to whether a charge of perjury should be laid against a Police Officer following a recent Magistrates' Court hearing. Upon arriving at court, the VALS solicitor had an informal discussion with the Police Informant concerning a charge of 'being found drunk and disorderly in a public place' laid against his client. It appeared to the solicitor that the defendant had a good defence to the charge in that the defendant had not been 'found' and in fact had never been 'in a public place'. The solicitor said as much to the constable. It is worth noting that a conviction could have had serious ramifications for the defendant who was already on a bond, a condition of which was that he should abstain from alcohol. When the Police Informant came to give evidence, it appeared to the solicitor that he had substantially varied his account of 'the incident, presumably to cope with the problems identified by the solicitor in his earlier account. The Magistrate dismissed the charge.