Police documents detailing the handover between shift sergeants at South Hedland police station on the weekend that Ms Dhu was in custody were apparently left out of the coronial investigation into her death.
The shift sergeant’s reports from 2 August 2014, and 3 August, 2014, were raised at the coronial inquest in Perth on Tuesday by the lawyer for former Sgt Rick Bond and then passed up to West Australian coroner Ros Fogliani, who did not appear to know the documents existed.
Bond’s lawyer, Peter Lochore, said he had “simply asked WA police” for the documents, which provide a written record of the information provided by other sergeants to Bond at the start of his two shifts as supervisor on the weekend that Dhu, a 22-year-old Yamatji woman, was held in police custody.
Lawyers for Dhu’s family also had not seen the documents, which were apparently not included in the coronial brief, until they were passed over the bar table.
Dhu, whose first name is not used for cultural reasons, was arrested about 5pm on 2 August, for unpaid fines and declared dead at Hedland health campus at 1.39pm on 4 August from septicaemia caused by an old broken rib. She was taken to hospital at 9pm on the first day and just after 5pm the second day and both times declared fit to be held in custody by doctors at Hedland health campus.
On Tuesday, Sgt Russell Cowie, who was shift supervisor from 9pm to 7am on the night of both 2 August and 3 August, told the court he could not recall details of his conversations with other sergeants, both when he was coming on shift and when briefing the incoming supervisor at the end of his shift. Specifically, he could not remember details of what he was told, or told others, about the condition of Dhu, beyond the fact that she had gone to hospital and been declared fit to be in custody.
Lochore suggested that Cowie had not adequately briefed Bond on Dhu’s condition on the morning of 4 August, because he allegedly said Dhu had “slept through the night” and had “no issue” when security footage of the cell showed her restless and vomiting.
Cowie said he “could not recall” what he told Bond.
On the night of 2 August, Cowie was working with Sen Cst Nicola Murphy, who was rostered on as the lock-up keeper.
Murphy also gave evidence on Tuesday, telling the court that she had no recollection of anyone telling her that Dhu’s symptoms were faked, exaggerated, or linked to drugs. Two of the seven police officers who have so far given evidence, including one of the officers tasked with taking her to hospital on the first night, said they had heard that suggestion circulating the station, but could not say where it started.
She also agreed she had skipped one of Dhu’s required hourly cell checks and mistakenly marked a remote cell check (looking at the security camera screen) as a physical cell check (walking to the cell and peering through the door), a mistake that earned her a managerial notice.
Murphy is one of five police officers who have so far given evidence that received some form of internal disciplinary notice for failing to comply with lockup procedures, mainly the failure to note all of the required details of Dhu’s hospital visits, including a diagnosis, which the court has heard was not given to police, into the custody notification system.
Despite now saying they had a good understanding of the lockup policy, three police witnesses gave different answers when asked how often they would have to conduct cell checks on a high-risk prisoner, ranging from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes or every 10 minutes.
The inquest heard in the first two weeks of hearings last year that all 11 officers in the chain of custody were found to have failed to comply with police regulations in some way.
Dhu’s family, sitting in the public gallery, became frustrated as successive police officers said they were unable to recall details of their interactions with Dhu. Carol Roe, Dhu’s grandmother, will speak at a public forum about Aboriginal deaths in custody in Perth on Wednesday night.
The inquest continues.
