Inquest into Aboriginal woman's death in custody to be held 16 months after she died

The hearing will be in South Hedland between 23 November and 4 December, before inquests into two other deaths in custody of Aboriginal people in WA

The inquest into the death in custody of 22-year-old Aboriginal woman Ms Dhu will be held in late November, almost 16 months after she was pronounced dead at a hospital in Western Australia on 4 August last year.

Protests were held on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of the Yamatji woman in South Hedland, whose first name is withheld for cultural reasons.

The state coroner Ros Fogliani said the 10-day inquest would be held in the town, 1,650km north of Perth, between 23 November and 4 December.

The high-profile case, which has inspired national protests, will be heard before the inquests into the deaths in custody of two other Aboriginal people in the state.

The families of 44-year-old Maureen Mandijarra and 20-year-old Jayden Bennell have both been waiting more than two years for an inquest.

Eight lawyers, including counsel assisting the coroner, Toby Bishop, attended the five-minute call in a cramped corner of the central law courts in Perth on Friday afternoon.

The Western Australian police force; Western Australian country health service; two nurses who attended Dhu at the South Hedland health campus; Dhu’s mother, Della Roe, and grandmother Carole Roe; Dhu’s father, Robert Dhu; and her ex-partner Dion James Ruffin were all individually represented.

Della and Carole Roe, who have campaigned to draw attention to Dhu’s death and lobbied the government for an early hearing of the case, were not in court.

Dhu was taken into custody at the police lockup in South Hedland three days before her death after failing to pay a $1,000 fine.

She complained of severe stomach pains and was taken to hospital. She returned to the police cells twice before being found unresponsive on the floor.

Guardian Australia has reported that an interim autopsy report, seen by Dhu’s family, said she had multiple broken ribs and serious infections from injuries believed to pre-date her being taken into custody.

The Western Australian premier, Colin Barnett, pledged action to reduce rates of Aboriginal incarceration after Dhu’s death and has promised the state will look into introducing a 24-hour custody notification service.

But the Dhu family’s calls for an end to the practice of jailing people to pay off fines – Western Australian regulations allow people to “cut out” unpaid court fines at $250 a day – have been ignored.

• On 9 August 2015 this article was amended to make it clear the Dhu family are calling for an end to the practice of jailing people to pay off fines.

Contributor

Calla Wahlquist

The GuardianTramp

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