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4 Corners: Who Killed Mr Ward?

Yesterday the WA Coroner ruled that an Aboriginal elder of heatstroke in temperatures of 50 degrees celsius during transportation in a prison van.

4cornersWA Coroner Alistair Hope yesterday ruled that an Aboriginal elder and father of four died of heatstroke when he succumbed to temperatures of 50 degrees celsius during transportation in a prison van in 2008.

On Monday night ABC’s Four Corners looks closely at the case in a documentary, Who Killed Mr Ward?

Mr Ward, whose first name is not used in respect for Aboriginal custom, had gone from a traditional hunter-gatherer life in the desert of Western Australia to become a spokesman for his people in Australia and overseas.

On a hot Saturday night, just over a year ago, Laverton police arrested Mr Ward for driving under the influence of alcohol. Less than 24 hours later he was dead. He had been transported 400 kilometres in the back of a prison van operated by a private security firm. The air temperature inside his cell was over 47 degrees, and the metal surface reached 56 degrees.

“My goodness sake, one can only feel such horror at slowly being cooked.” – Dennis Eggington, Aboriginal Legal Service of WA.

Four Corners examines the events that led to Mr Ward’s detention and subsequent death. The Western Australia Coroner hands down his findings on Friday 12th June.

We hear from the Justice of the Peace who refused Mr Ward bail, allowing him instead to be transported the 400 kilometres to a Kalgoorlie jail.

Liz Jackson: “You weren’t made aware of the fact that he’s well respected, well connected?”

Justice of the Peace: “No. No. He was an Aboriginal in a very drunken state or very groggy state. That’s all I knew him as.”

The guards driving the prison van did not stop to check his welfare or see if he needed a toilet break, food or water until, they say, they heard a thud from the back. Even then they didn’t unlock both the cell doors, and instead threw water on Mr Ward through the chained-up inner door.

“We don’t treat animals like that. We don’t treat our pets like that. People get put in jail for treating another… another creature the same as Mr Ward was treated.” – Dennis Eggington, Aboriginal Legal Service of WA

Evidence from the inquest reveals the Department of Corrective Services was explicitly warned of the high risk involved with transporting prisoners in their aging and sub-standard fleet of vehicles, by the former company providing the transport service.

Reporter Liz Jackson talks to the man who first alerted the authorities to the problems. He says:

“If there were something called bureaucratic manslaughter, the Department of Corrective Services would certainly be prima facie guilty of that.”

She also speaks to the Minister for Corrective Services at the time, Margaret Quirk, who could not convince her cabinet colleagues to spend the money needed to replace the fleet. Ms Quirk says:

“It’s the biggest regret of my public life… I think we were negligent and I myself regard myself as personally responsible.”

It airs 8.30pm Monday 15th June on ABC1 and is repeated at 11.35pm on Tuesday 16th June.

3 Responses

  1. Don’t understand why they didnt have Telematic systems in these vans, which remotely monitor temperature, GPS location and engine status. Custodial Services Inspectors would have been instantly aware of the situation. I work for a company which designs these things for mining – they’re not that expensive.

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