Heinz Schurmann (hschurma@amnesty.gn.apc.org)
news service 12/97 AI index: asa 12/01/97
embargoed for 1300 hrs gmt 30.01.97
AUSTRALIA: WESTERN AUSTRALIA GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO BLOCK
DEATH IN CUSTODY INQUIRY
On the ninth anniversary of Steven Wardle's death in custody,
Amnesty International today condemned the Western Australia
government's continued blocking of a thorough, transparent and
fully independent judicial inquiry into the suspicious
circumstances of his death.
Stephen Wardle, a non-Aboriginal 18-year old, was found dead
in the East Perth police lockup on 1 February 1988. Amnesty
International believes that previous official investigations have
left serious questions unanswered, including the disappearance of
crucial evidence and alteration of police records.
"By dismissing calls for a judicial inquiry, the Western
Australia government is doing little credit to Australia's
reputation in the field of international human rights protection,
and is undermining some of the positive steps taken by the police
in response to previous deaths in custody," Amnesty International
said.
"Stephen Wardle's death and increasing numbers of indigenous
deaths in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission highlight the
need for all Australian governments to ensure that the
Commission's recommendations are fully and effectively implemented
to the benefit of all prisoners -- Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal."
Amnesty International is concerned that when Stephen Wardle's
parents did not accept official explanations of their son's death
and called for a thorough investigation, they became the target of
numerous police operations which they consider to be harassment.
Complaints of police harassment have also been common among the
families of Aborigines who died in custody.
"Stephen Wardle's family have a legitimate concern to see
justice done. Instead, they seem to have been harassed over a
sustained period of time," Amnesty International said.
Unlike most Aboriginal deaths in custody at the time, Stephen
Wardle's death was never investigated by a Royal Commission, and
previous investigations into the case fell short of recommended
international standards.
In communications with senior Western Australian police
Amnesty International has learned that a number of measures,
including new police custody policies, have been adopted in
response to Stephen Wardle's death to prevent similar tragedies.
However, in December 1996 Amnesty International received a
letter from the Western Australian government dismissing the need
for any further inquiry into his death. There is nothing in the
letter from former Police Minister Bob Wiese to indicate that the
organization's concerns have received serious consideration.
Background
In 1996, Amnesty International welcomed fresh calls made by a
State Parliamentary Select Committee -- not mentioned in the
government's letter -- for a judicial inquiry into Stephen
Wardle's death. He died in controversial circumstances, within
hours of his arrest on suspicion of drunkenness from the toxic
effects of prescribed medication and alcohol which a Coroner said
were aggravated by lack of care'.
A 1996 Amnesty International report, Too many open questions
- Stephen Wardle's death in police custody, expressed concern
that he may have been ill-treated in custody and that he was
subject to lack of care to such a degree that it constituted
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, with fatal consequences.
Previous inquiries failed to answer many open questions on the
case, for example:
- Why Stephen Wardle was locked up without visible injuries'
and was found dead in a cell hours later with bruises, bumps and
abrasions clearly visible;
- Why crucial evidence disappeared, including medication
examined by police, police photographs of injuries, and body
samples taken at autopsy;
- Why police records were altered, including copies of the
prisoner's property sheet given to police internal investigators;
- Why medication found on Stephen Wardle was not recorded by
police who recorded different drugs instead;
- Why Stephen Wardle's family have reportedly been subject to
police harassment during their public campaign for another
inquiry.
The organization also learned that body samples taken at autopsy,
some of which had disappeared when they were requested for further
laboratory tests, had been kept at different locations in Perth in
the care of different government departments.
ENDS .../