Make this my home page
More buttons
Best of the Day
Page
Nintendo Plans DS Invasion In Schools: The Future Of Learning Is Gaming
Video
The Lost Play of William Shakespeare
Blog
The More Humans Try to Deny Themselves the Love They Really Want, the Dumber They Look in the End
Game
Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver
Art

In Discussion with Noma Bar

Cool tools
Hot links

Super Mario Flash Game Restyled for Obama

Dadaist deconstruction of new media, as a flash game.
Everything you need to know about microscopic water bears
News for nerds
For lovers of the Green Fairy
Stories and art from Australia's Yolgnu people
Australia's best science fiction author
Did the earth just move?
Don't discount journalism
Novelist and comic book legend's homepage
Museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journeys
Developing tech to get the internet to its full potential
Free Culture, Open Government, Liberty
Online Buddhist meditation
Reducing harm from drug use
Palm Island uprising leader gets six years

Palm Island uprising leader gets six years

Lex Wotton has been sentenced to six years behind bars with a two-year non parole period for his part in the 2004 uprising that saw the Palm Island police station, adjoining courthouse, a police residence and paddy wagon torched. 

The father of four was sentenced moments ago in the Townsville District Court, before Judge Michael Shanahan. A large crowd of supporters and media gathered inside and outside the court to hear the sentence.

Mr Wotton will be eligible for parole on 18 July, 2010 due to time served, providing there is not a successful appeal by the Crown against the sentence.

The November 26, 2004 uprising followed the death in custody a week earlier of Mulrunji Doomadgee, a 36-year-old Palm Island resident. Mulrunji was arrested on the morning of November 19, 2004 for 'public nuisance' by the island's officer-in-charge, Snr Sgt Chris Hurley.

Within an hour, he lay dead on the floor of a police cell, having suffered massive internal injuries.

Four of his ribs had been broken, his spleen had been ruptured, his portal view was torn and his liver was "almost cleaved in two", according to a pathologist's report.

A week after the death, the residents were told at a public meeting that an autopsy report found the death was an accident, and that Mulrunji had tripped up a single step as he entered the police station, and fallen onto a flat surface.

Within about 15 minutes, an enraged mob had begun burning police buildings.

A subsequent investigation by the Acting State Coroner, Christine Clements revealed that Snr Sgt Hurley was responsible for the death, and that the Queensland Police investigation was "wilfully blind" and had been seriously compromised.

So far, almost two dozen Aboriginal people have been jailed over the uprising. Mr Wotton - convicted a fortnight ago of leading the resistance - is the final Palm Islander to be sentenced.

To this day, no police have even been disciplined for their part in the derailing of the investigation, despite the coroner's findings.

Snr Sgt Hurley was charged with manslaughter over the death and acquitted last year. Snr Sgt Hurley had maintained that he had fallen beside Mulrunji after a struggle, but by the end of his trial he accepted that he may have landed on top of him.

Detective Sergeant Darren Robinson, one of the police initially appointed to investigate the death, has also escaped sanction so far, despite clear evidence that lied under oath during the coronial inquest.

Det Sgt Robinson instead has been awarded the Medal of Valour for bravery during the Palm Island uprising.

Go back to previous pageLeave some feedbackPrint this pageEmail link to friendsBookmark in del.icio.usAdd to Stumble ThisAdd to your favourite bookmarksDigg this article

Tags

 

Related Stories

   
Next
If anyone roams across Sydney as much as I do, then one would inevitably find oneself raising that hand, getting into that taxi and dreading that meter going up and up while he takes you to your destination.

But like many others, I've found that some of the best conversations I've ever had were with cabbies.

The last one I met was a Polish engineer who proceeded to explain to me how to pave the outside of my house from scratch, because the "professionals" don't know how to do it properly. He was unimpressed and blatantly questioned why I was studying law while stating that "engineers are respected a lot more in Europe than in the West". Honestly, he seemed far more educated than me.

Before him there was another driver who engaged me in a stimulating conversation about Indian poetry and literature. With another, I had an argument about raising children in different cultures.

The reason for this is one that we've heard almost too often - qualified immigrants come to Australia, their expertise is refused recognition, and they get stuck driving people around the city when their true skills obviously lie elsewhere.

We can't help these guys get a job. But next time you sit in a cab, don't be afraid to have a chat. You never know who you might be talking to.  

Find out about our Widget

Feedback

4 mar

The HomepageDAILY community likes to co-create both content and process. What are you thinking right now about what we do and how we do it? Tell us about the news, videos and stories and anything else you see on HPD. What you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see in future. Recommend a website, video or article; send us pix, new stories - share it with us and by so doing you are giving us permission to share it with the world.

Leave Feedback here

*********************************

Why has homepage started running so many nameless 100 word eds? Names are good for intellectual continuity, honesty and non-hypocrisy. - Terry McGee

*********************************

Re: Bale de Rua

We thought the Bale de Rua was aweful. Choreography was terrible - set design, music and costumes were lacklustre. The dancers however were very athletic and graceful. - Jules

*********************************

Re: In Praise of Mediocrity

I just wonder who decides if what ever you chose to do in life, is mediocre or not. Sounds like with standards like yours, this article with its poor structure and soap box appeal may also be considered by many as, in-fact, mediocre. - Khedra

*********************************

Re: The Assassins of Langley

Yes, Mr. Neville. Odious, heinous assassins sold body and soul to Luciferian entities who pull the strings (the last of them, I want to believe) from the shadows. Philip Aggeee and John Stockwell portrayed them quite well. They are NOT heroes, nor are the gangbangers of East Los Angeles who spray grafitti in Iraq, where they most certainly train for urban warfare on our streets. Good riddance to them all!

*********************************

Re: Hairy Legs: A Study of Female Art, Feminism and Femininity

 Looking forward to more of her articles. Hope she does plenty of Art Theory at SCA. Barbara Kruger and Judy Chicago are certainly powerful artists and it would be interesting to see what they are doing now.

*********************************

A hero's welcome for the famous Iraqi shoe thrower

Terrorist! Please do your research first before writing such dangerous things, we was insulting Bush by throwing the shoe as he was disgraced with him, not trying to topple the largest super power in the world by throwing a shoe. I cant believe you have put those words up. Ashamed

*********************************

Re: How to Report the News

Having worked as a TV news reporter I found Charlie's piece very amusing - some of us have long believed reporting like this is a rubbish way to do things! But even if a journalist wants to tell stories in a more authentic and engaging way, the constraints of the so-called "house style" in many news organisations make it difficult to achieve. What's needed is a massive culture shift and a complete re-think of what we understand quality broadcast news reporting is. And guess what? That's exactly what's happening, though you'd never believe it from what we're still mostly seeing on TV. Anyway, the new digital technologies, and shake up of "old school/old mainstream" journalism means new platforms and styles of "news" storytelling can now emerge. Let's hope fresh and appropriate ways of funding appear too, so we can kill off this dreadful formulaic reporting and delivery, and clear the way for more natural and interesting ways to treat stories and content.

Much love, Ian Aspin.
www.twitter.com/ianaspin

*********************************

Re: Pushing 60 With Pot

You're pushing 60, well I'm pushing 70 and still having to scrounge around for my pot. It's tragic that when I first came to Australia it was $30 an ounce, and now I have to pay nearly $350 - Peter

 *********************************

Re: Textbook publishers dream of the tablet

Why can't this just be a program for PC and Windows? Why do they have to make us buy more hardware that's just going to disappoint? - Tyler J. Wilson

*********************************

Re: Killing Indian Students: Australia's Favourite New Sport!- by Sean Maguire

How about the indian guy who slashed his wife's throat, is still australia to blame for?..may be , for accenpting them to move over!I am an immigrant myself but I love this country, there is no perfect place on Earth but australia is one of the best! - Michael

*********************************
 
 
This entire fiasco is an incredible over reaction. Australia is an easy target. Why? because we are honest, transperant and we talk about our failings. Is there aggression and iolence in Australia? Sure, like any country. But we face it head on and we work to eliminate it. What about the stories of the 100’s of thousands of Indian workers who are treated as slaves in the middle east and nobody says anything? What about the fact that India still has entrenched pedophilia in terms of child brides? What about the crushing poverty embraced by more than 60% of the Indian people while this nation runs around building nuclear warheads? A storm in a teacup, an over reaction, and a diversion from some the really bad issues facing India. What is really happening here is that students are being unnecessarily frightened. meaning they will miss out on what could be the opportunity of their lifetime. - Daryl
 
*********************************
 
 
I couldn't agree with Sean Maguire's article more on the recent Indian attacks. For all those who like the pretend the attacks are merely based on coincidence, try to imagine how we would react if the boot were on the other foot and an uncharacteristic number of Australia's had been murdered in India. Would you push for a travel ban? Would you be scared for your children in a seemingly hostile environment so many miles away?  - Kara Jensen-Mackinnon

*********************************
 
12 sep
10 aug
More feedback...
© 2007-2008 homePageDAILY - All rights reserved * Terms of Use * Privacy Policy * Advertising Information * Media Kit * Contact Us