Deaths in Custody
Dollars don't compensate for the loss of a human being
Two-and-a-half years after Aboriginal elder Mr Ward cooked to death in the back of a prison transport van, the family has had some good and bad news.
On July 29, Attorney-General Porter announced $3.2 million compensation. It's spread across Mr Ward's widow Nancy Donegan, trust funds for the children and an interim payment.
Dollars don't compensate for the appalling circumstances, let alone the loss of a human being. But this is a decent thing to do.
Hats off to the WA Government – and the many citizens who nagged them for two years. In particular, the Aboriginal Legal Service and the WA Deaths in Custody Watch Committee have done us – and Mr Ward - proud.
Less impressive is the criminal investigation, and the WA Director of Public Prosecutions' decision not to prosecute. There are enough question marks to warrant reopening the inquest into Mr Ward's death. The original police investigation may have involved several processual errors.
There's also concerns about the soundness – for social and legal justice - of the DPP's decision not to lay criminal charges.
This reinforces the belief that, in WA, an Aboriginal life appears to be worth less than a non-indigenous one.
It may test public confidence in the impartiality of our justice system.
Activists are right to now propose a new criminal offence of 'industrial manslaughter'. Yet even within existing 'black letter law', there is a strong case that manslaughter occurred.
Manslaughter doesn't require intentionality. The unintended consequences of acts or omissions can qualify for 'culpable homicide', especially if reasonably foreseeable and a duty of care existed.
The DPP's decision has an unwelcome trajectory. It suggests that the prospects of successful prosecution are diminished if multiple participants are each partly culpable.
That defies common sense, and perhaps justice too.
David Freeman
Director of Edmund Rice Institute for Social Justice.
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