When an Aboriginal police liaison officer claimed in September that he had received death threats by police wishing to suppress information about the February 15 death of the Young Man from Kamilaroi, the case was thrown back into the spotlight. Ray Jackson, president of the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA), spoke to Green Left Weekly's Paul Benedek on October 22 about the ongoing struggle for justice over the young man's death.
The 17-year-old son of Gail Hickey died in hospital from horrific injuries sustained when he was impaled on a metal fence on February 14. According to Jackson, who stood as a Socialist Alliance Senate candidate in the federal election, the coroner's initial inquiry into the young man's death was problematic due to "the false evidence regarding the chase of the young man". As a result, the coroner's report claimed that the police had no involvement in the death.
The ISJA, however, believes that police were heavily involved, and attempted to prove this. On September 24, Jackson explained, the suppression of evidence was exposed when Aboriginal Community Liason Officer (ACLO) Paul Wilkinson "made statements to the NSW upper house inquiry that in fact he had been intimidated by unnamed police; he'd had his house burnt down (there could have been evidence there); his car was burnt out; and ongoing death threats were made to him, his wife and 11-month-old son."
Jackson outlined how Wilkinson told the inquiry that "police had rammed the bike, and were physically involved in the death of the young man". While Wilkinson "did not name any specific police officer", the ISJA has called for Senior Constable Michael Hollingsworth to be investigated. Wilkinson will be recalled to the upper house inquiry to make further statements.
According to Jackson, "the coroner would only look at police wagon movements, and movements of the bike" that the young man was riding at the time of the incident. "We want all evidence to be presented. And we want Hollingsworth on the stand."
On the day of the young man's death, anger and grief within the Aboriginal community at the Redfern Block exploded into a "riot", and for several hours Indigenous youth fought with large numbers of police. Jackson explained that the state coroner's initial inquiry concluded that the young man's family "should have approached police and sought their assistance ... and that would have stopped riots". Jackson pointed out that "there was no word of the heavy police presence on Sunday morning around the Block, or of the impact and offensiveness of that".
How the young man's mother "was expected to approach police who killed her son is beyond my understanding", Jackson said in disgust. In addition, three internal police inquiries into the riot "came up with nothing except blaming the community and blaming the family".
Jackson explained the role of the ACLOs: "Police see ACLO as their eyes and ears in the community, to bring info to the police. ACLO see themselves as liaison only, to be used in emergencies, instead of police heavies moving in. For example, if there is a death in custody, ACLO will visit the family as a sort of messenger." However, in this case, Jackson claims that the ACLOs were "kept out of events until the following day, to give the police time to coordinate their stories".
Jackson explained that the ISJA has issued a call for "the police evidence to be reinvestigated in order to come up with the truth", for the inquest into the young man's death to be reopened, and for the "Hickey family to be allowed to pick their own independent legal team, fully funded by the attorney-general or premier's office".
NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has issued a statement calling for a new inquiry, and the Socialist Alliance has declared its support. Jackson appealed to all "progressive forces, churches, community groups, ethnic groups, etc." to come behind the call.
According to Jackson, Redfern is now "quiet" and a "stalemate" exists. He explained that the "Hickey family is further investigating a fresh legal team. Their old team was handpicked by the government, so it worked with the police in keeping the facts hidden."
Wilkinson and fellow Aboriginal liaison officer Derek Wilson (who also presented damning evidence to the parliamentary inquiry) are "both off work, out on stress leave", according to Jackson, and "their careers as ACLOs are probably finished". He added that Wilkinson and his family still face intimidation "on a daily basis".
Jackson highlighted the importance of bringing Hollingsworth to justice, along with "the people behind the cover-up — the executive officers of Redfern police, who were strongly involved in rehashing evidence and in the cover-up. Everybody from the police commissioner down would know the real story. But because of the police culture, it gets covered up."
Jackson said that the role of the NSW Labor government "has been a disgrace". Noting that Premier Bob Carr and NSW police commissioner Ken Moroney said after the riot that they "fully believed the police" and that the police were "heroes", Jackson said they both "need to consider how they will word their apologies, not only to the family, but to the Aboriginal community in NSW".
Jackson warned against viewing the young man's death as a "one-off" incident. He urged people to remember police shootings of Aboriginal youth in the past, in various states.
"This is why I feel so strongly — the inquest must be reopened and justice found. Police who do kill, whether black or white, need to be brought to justice, and the killings stopped. If you can kill people in your job without being brought to justice, then you'll keep doing it."
Jackson added: "The more we tighten the noose around the coppers, the more dangerous it will be for those exposing them." It reaches a point however, when "you've got to make a stand", as Wilkinson did.
From Green Left Weekly, October 27, 2004.
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