Mackenzie, Geraldine; Stobbs, Nigel; Thomas, Mark --- "What Really Happened' Versus 'What We Can Prove': Tension Between the Roles of Coroner and DPP in Queensland" [2007] IndigLawB 2; (2007) 6(24) Indigenous Law Bulletin 6

^[1] Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) ss 8 and 11.

^[2] Commonwealth, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody, National Report (1991) <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/rciadic/index.html> at 12 January 2007.

^[3] Queensland Coroner’s Guidelines at <http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/courts/coroner/pdfs/guidelines.pdf> at 10 January 2007; Commonwealth, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, National Report (1991), Inquest Findings and Recommendations 108 and 110 in relation to ‘The Rights of the Deceased’s Family’.

^[4] Office of the State Coroner (Qld), Finding of Inquest – ‘Inquest into the Death of Mulrunji’ (27 September 2006) COR 2857/04(9), 2.

^[5] Ibid 33.

^[6] Ibid 26-27.

^[7] Ibid 2.

^[8] Ibid 3.

^[9] Ibid 25.

^[10] Ibid 11.

^[11] Ibid 27.

^[12] Ibid 20 and 26.

^[13] Ibid 7.

^[14] Ibid 27.

^[15] Ibid 7 and 8.

^[16] Ibid 21.

^[17] Ibid 15.

^[18] Ibid 7.

^[19] Autopsy report of Dr Guy Lampe (2004).

^[20] Queensland, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 3 December 2002, 5222 (Rod Welford Attorney-General).

^[21] Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) s 39.

^[22] Office of the State Coroner (Qld), above n 4, 12.

^[23] Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) s 39.

^[24] Queensland, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 3 December 2002, 5222 (Rod Welford Attorney-General).

^[25] Office of the State Coroner (Qld), above n 4.

^[26] Ibid 34.

^[27] Ibid.

^[28] Ibid.

^[29] Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, ‘Hurley Not to Face Criminal Charges’ (Press Release, 14 December 2006).

^[30] Office of the State Coroner, above n 4, 25. In her Finding of Inquest, Acting State Coroner Clements found that ‘Senior Sergeant Hurley was quite clear on every occasion, until he came to court, that he had not fallen on Mulrunji… In his evidence to this court Senior Sergeant Hurley merely said he must have fallen on Mulrunji. What has brought this change of recollection after repeated adamant accounts that he fell to the left hand side? The reality is that Senior Sergeant Hurley has become aware exactly of the nature of Mulrunji’s injuries causing death. If he had not otherwise caused such injury to Mulrunji, then the injury must be explained in the fall.’

^[31] Director of Public Prosecutions, above n 29.

^[32] Ibid.

^[33] Ibid.

^[34] Tony Koch and Patricia Karvelas, ‘“White Justice” Ruling puts Heat on Beattie’, The Australian (Sydney), 16 December 2006, 1.

^[35] Briginshaw v Briginshaw [1938] HCA 34; (1938) 60 CLR 336.

^[36] Annetts v McCann [1990] HCA 57; (1990) 65 ALJR 167, 168.

^[37] ‘End Custody Death Confusion’, Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney), 15 December 2006.

^[38] Tony Koch and Patricia Karvelas, above n 34.

^[39] Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, above n 29.

^[40] Ibid.

^[41] Office of the State Coroner (Qld), above n 4, 27.

^[42] Ibid 13.

^[43] Ibid 7 and 9.

^[44] Ibid 22.

^[45] For a discussion of the fundamentals of the adversarial system of litigation see Nigel Stobbs, ‘The Adversarial Court System – Is it Fair?’ in Sharon Hayes, Nigel Stobbs and Mark Lauchs (eds), Social Ethics for Legal and Justice Professionals (2006) 59.

^[46] Coroners Act 2003 (Qld), s 37 and Division 3 generally.

^[47] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘1301.0 Year Book Australia 2006’ (2006), Chapter 11 – Crime and Justice, <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/B237B6EA78BC3729CA2570DE0013591F?opendocument> at 24 January 2007.

^[48] Office of the State Coroner (Qld), above n 4, 28.

^[49] Ibid 9-10 and 31-32.

^[50] Office of the State Coroner (Qld) above n 4, 31.The Acting State Coroner made detailed recommendations about the need for actual and perceived impartiality in any investigation of a death in custody, noting that Hurley had in fact collected investigating officers from the airport himself and driven them to the scene of the death. It was also inappropriate that Hurley had discussed details of the death with other officers who were witnesses, prior to their being interviewed.

^[51] Ibid.

^[52] Ibid 29.

^[53] Ibid 32.

^[54] Commonwealth, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, National Report (1991) Volume 1, 3.3.14, <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/rciadic/national/vol1/70.html> at 23 January 2007.

^[55] Office of the State Coroner (Qld), above n 4, 30.

^[56] Ibid 18.

^[57] Ibid 30.

^[58] Ibid.

^[59] Ibid.