Trial told of brutal attack

Press, 2 May 1984, Page 20

Trial told of brutal attack

NZPA-AAP Karratha An Aboriginal boy who died in a police cell at Roebourne, Western Australia, had been subjected to a prolonged, brutal and cowardly attack by the police, the Crown has alleged at the opening of a trial at Karratha. Four police constables and an Aboriginal police aide had all been involved, said the Chief Crown prosecutor for Western Australia, Mr Ronald Davies, Q.C. He was opening the prosecution case in the Supreme Court at Karratha where the five went on trial charged with the manslaughter of John Pat, aged 16, on September 28 last year. Constables Terrence Hall, St6ven Bordas, lan Armitt and James Young, and a police aide Michael Walker, have all pleaded not guilty. Mr Davies said there had been two clashes between the police and Aboriginals in Roebourne on the night of September 28. The first was outside the Victoria Hotel, where he alleged that off-duty policemen had gone out from the bar to start a fight with Aboriginals. “They went outside with the general intention to prosecute an unlawful purpose . . . getting stuck into the Aborigines and challenging them to a fight. “In the course of that the deceased, John Pat, was kicked and struck a violent blow by Holl, which sent him reeling back so he struck his head on the roadway outside the hotel.” The second incident, said Mr Davies, was outside the police station, where John Pat and four other Aboriginals had been taken by police vans. There, he alleged, the five accused men had decided to beat up four of the five helpless prisoners. The four had been forcibly taken from the van and assaulted, one after the other, along with words like “. . . bring out the next one ...” Mr Davies said it did not. matter which of the five, had actually punched or kicked the dead boy. If the five had decided

together to carry out an unlawful purpose — to assault the Aboriginals — and if John Pat’s death was a probable consequence, then each of them was responsible. The first witness, Cecelia Howard, who lives over the road from the Roebourne Police Station, told the jury she had been sickened by what she saw that night. “I thought the police had gone mad,” Mrs Howard said. One after the other three prisoners had been dragged from the van and dropped on the ground so heavily she heard the thump. They had been picked up, punched down and kicked on the ground. “I could hear the sound of loud blows and ‘come on, fight, you bastards’,” she said. “One of the men picked one of them up under the arms and said, ‘don’t you dare hit a policeman again, whether he’s black, white or brindle.’ "He then punched him to the ground and then kicked him in the stomach ... in the end he was dragged off.” The trial, with Justice Smith presiding, is continuing.