Singarayar, Suganthi --- "The Muirhead Inquiry (RCIADIC)" [1988] AboriginalLawB 27; (1988) 1(32) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2

• The Muirhead Inquiry
• Eddie Murray [Died 12 June 1981]
• In Other Matters Concerning The Royal Commission:
• Submissions On Deaths

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The Muirhead Inquiry

by Suganthi Singarayar

The following item continues the AboriginalLB Summary of evidence presented at the Muirhead Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in custody.

Eddie Murray [died 12 June 1981]

[for a summary of the previous evidence and allegations concerning his death see AboriginalLB Nos 8,22 & 31[1]]

New evidence before the Muirhead Inquiry. centred around the inadequacy of coronial procedures followed in the examination of Mr Murray's body. The Royal Commission was informed that Ms Anita Anderson, Wee Waa Coroner at the time of Mr Murray's death, had not advised Dr Mulvey to organise histological tests on Eddie Murray's body. She was not aware of the forensic practice of allowing 24 hours to elapse before conducting the post-mortem so that any bruises could become visible. Ms Anderson said that the practice of sending clerks with inadequate training in coronial proceedings to country areas as occurred at the time of Mr Murray's death, still continues today.

Former Wee Waa ambulance officer Mr Harold Lewis gave evidence that conflicted with that of the police. Police records show that the ambulance carrying Mr Murray's body left for the morgue at 3.10pm. Ambulance records, however, indicate that the police did not call an ambulance until 3.30pm - 30 minutes after they allegedly found Eddie Murray's body. If the evidence of the ambulance officer is accepted, then it casts serious doubts on the police version of the circumstances surrounding Mr Murray's death.

A former NSW Health Department senior pathologist told the Royal Commission that Dr Mulvey's post-mortem report was 'meagre, incomplete and inadequate'. Specifically, the report concentrated on the neck and failed to mcord or evaluate other marks that appeared in photographs of the body. According to the pathologist the marks on Mr Murray's arm, head and wrist ought to have been photographed at close range and investigated by the doctor conducting the autopsy.

Counsel for the Murray family raised several possible scenarios regarding Eddie Murray's death, other than that provided in the post-mortem report. The first scenario related to the possibility of pressure applied to the neck; this pressure, while causing death, would leave no marks on the body. The second centred around a mark on Mr Murray's forehead. The mark was noted by nursing sister Beverley Garden before the post-mortem examination. It is also apparent in photographs of the body, but it was not mentioned in Dr Mulvey's post-mortem report.

In summary, Mr Kevin Coorey, counsel for the Murray family submitted to the Royal Commission that Eddie Murray 'died at the hand of a police officer or police officers unknown' on 12th June 1981.

In other matters concerning the Royal Commission:

• Ms Susan Dixon, sister of Kingsley Dixon who died in police custody on 9th July 1987, has formally lodged a complaint alleging nine South Australian detectives searched her home on 17th June 1988, without a search warrant. She claims that this action is part of a campaign of harassment by South Australian police officers against her family.

• The Royal Commission has been told that a Yatala prison officer examined sensitive private documents belonging to Mr Derek Bromley, Chairman of the Sandsbury Association, a group of Aboriginal prisoners. Mr Bromley claims that the officer's action is part of a concerted effort to restrict the Association from informing the Commission about Aboriginal issues within the jail.

• Natasha Tracy-Ann Kallenberg, a young Aboriginal woman, escaped from Bandupip Women's Prison, Perth in November 1987 while serving a life sentence. In April 1986, she suffered a miscarriage at Grenough mixed prison. She attributes her miscarriage to mistreatment by prison authorities; the W.A. Department of Corrective Services has no record of her pregnancy. Ms.Kallenberg claims that her unborn child was the youngest Aboriginal to die in custody and wants the death to be considered by the Muirhead Royal Commission.

• The Committee to Defend Black Rights (CDBR) tendered a research paper on the Intoxicated Persons Act (1979) to the Royal Commission. The paper draws attention to the well-documented over-policing of Aboriginal communities and the ways in which the Act can be used to intimidate and harass Aboriginal people, particularly in Northern NSW. Their research highlighted that half of the deaths which have occurred in police custody since 1980, were of people who had been detained under the provisions of the Act. The CDBR recommends that police stations should no longer be classified as 'proclaimed places' under the Act and that the entire legislative scheme be overhauled to provide for more humane & medically suitable facilities for intoxicated persons.

Submissions on Deaths

Hal Wooten Q.C., who on 6th May this year was appointed a Commissioner to inquire into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, commenced hearing evidence on 21st June. His inquiry will concentrate on deaths that have occurred in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania and is currently sitting in the Law Courts Building (Rm.18C), Queen's Square, Sydney. Written submissions on any matter relevant to the terms of the Commission should be sent to John Gavin, Secretary to the Royal Commission, GPO Box 3409, Sydney NSW 2001; further information may be obtained from the Commission's Sydney office: 5th Floor, 169 Phillip Street, Sydney. Ph. [phone].

The following NSW deaths have been reported to the Commission as falling within the Terms of Reference: Keith Adams, Bruce Thomas Lesley, Shane Atkinson, Ross Mulvihill, Lloyd James Boney, Thomas Murray, Kenneth John Buchanan, Clarence Nean, Peter Campbell, Mark Anthony Quayle, Alan Clayton, Mark Wayne Revell, Stanley Cobb, Malcolm Charles Smith, Francis Thomas Cooper, Peter Wayne Williams, Paul Lawrence Kearney.

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[1] [1988] AboriginalLB 19; 2(31)pg3