Mulrunji - aka Cameron Doomadgee

Contributing factors

• severe intoxication with blood alcohol content of 292 mg/100mL
• fall through doorway of police station during arrest
• struggle and resistance during arrest
• possible deliberate application of force to upper abdomen
• compromise of investigative integrity
• inadequate initial police response
• absence of medical assessment despite apparent internal injuries

Coroner's recommendations

1. Future investigation of deaths in police custody which exhibit indicia of unnatural causes or which have occurred in the context of police actions or operations should be undertaken solely or primarily by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC), as the specialist misconduct and anti-corruption body for Queensland, and the CMC should be resourced and empowered by legislative means to undertake this role
2. The Operational Procedures Manual should be amended to make explicit the need to consider impartiality and the appearance of impartiality when selecting officers for investigation of deaths in custody
3. The OPM should be amended to explicitly require officers involved in investigation of deaths in custody to disclose any relationship with officers involved in or witnesses to the death
4. The OPM should be amended to require the officer in charge of investigations into deaths in custody to instruct officers involved in or witnessing the death not to discuss the matter with other witnesses prior to being interviewed
5. The CMC should give closer consideration to insisting upon separate legal representation for police witnesses in serious contentious matters where evidence may conflict, or where testimony of one officer may influence another; legislative amendment to the Coroners Act 2003 should be considered if necessary to empower the State Coroner to make binding guidelines on this issue
6. Local Community Justice Groups comprised of elders and trusted members of Indigenous communities should be established or maintained; questioning of Indigenous witnesses should occur in presence of members of the Community Justice Group and should be delayed until such a member is available
7. Police and investigative officers should be trained or regularly retrained on appropriateness of indirect questioning and alerted to nuances of silence, gratuitous concurrence and avoidance of eye-contact when questioning Indigenous witnesses
8. Counselling services should be provided to witnesses involved in the coronial process; availability of counselling should be made known to and directly offered to each witness before and after giving evidence