Court protects 'killers in uniform'

DARWIN — Letty Scott has reacted angrily to the Northern Territory Supreme Court's dismissal of the case against the NT government and three prison officers for the murder of her husband, Douglas Scott, in Berrimah prison on July 5, 1985.

While the court dismissed the case for murder, it found that it was "unable to be satisfied that the deceased took his own life". This finding is contrary to the original inquest and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, both of which found that Scott had committed suicide.

According to Letty Scott's legal counsel Daniel Taylor, "they weren't able to prove suicide and that says a lot".

Letty Scott asked, "They have already said Douglas didn't take his own life, so who did take his life? Did the Phantom do it? Did aliens come down and do this to Douglas?"

She told reporters that the "justice system" was "protecting killers in uniform".

The court was critical of the police investigation for failing to take fingerprints or footprints from the cell and interview witnesses.

In their final submissions to the court before the decision, Letty and her son Nathan Scott promised "to fight Australia on a world scale if we do not get justice out of this court. We want the defendants to know that we have fought for 20 years but the fight has just begun. It will go forever and [we will] never rest until Australia jails these murderers."

Kathy Newnam

From Green Left Weekly, June 22, 2005.

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From GLW issue 630